


Envenom

by IreneClaire



Series: Venomous [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Bromance, Danny Whump, Drama, Gen, Hurt Danny "Danno" Williams, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Steve Whump, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-07-15 13:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 64,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7223746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneClaire/pseuds/IreneClaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doctor Franklin Ray returns to exact revenge on Steve, using Danny as bait.  A belated happy Birthday whumpfest for my buddy Swifters! You wanted a one shot - but yah, no. Not likely ... those are rare indeed from this muse.</p><p>You also had a short list of 'wants' ... ummm ... well. I tried but likely failed there too. My stories have lives of their own and I went with the flow. Hope you like it regardless because I didn't think I'd resurrect this baddie at all!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Swifters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swifters/gifts).



  **H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Steve looked up at his wrists as he uselessly tested the cuffs again, his lips taut with anger. A second pair snapped those around his wrists to a sturdy iron eye-bolt which had been drilled into the concrete wall.

He had no hope in breaking free, yet he tried anyway, tearing his skin in the process. His frequent glances towards the ceiling as he listened to the sounds on the floor above them, then to the simple wooden staircase, and then finally towards the outline of his downed partner his ongoing distractions.

There was something vaguely familiar about the dingy room he was in, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Dimly lit, there were no windows and just one lone bare lightbulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling.  The air was damp, yet almost cold. Dark streaks of moisture leeched out from damaged sections of the concrete and more formed a filmy slick across parts of the floor. But Steve paused in his angry struggle to assess the broken glass, splintered pieces of wood, remnants of chicken wire and what looked like sloppy mounds of reddish-brown saw dust or kitty litter.  The room had once been used to house something before being dis-assembled. But what exactly, was a total mystery.  He wrinkled his nose at the odd underlying stench, too.  The place smelled not only old, but strange ... sour from something not quite human. Moldy and rotted, the remnants of larger wooden frames were sectioned evenly along each wall. Long housings for what might have once been for banks of fluorescent lights lined the ceiling, were now defunct and unused.  Beyond what he could see, the murky shadows took over to eventual pitch blackness and he was blind to the rooms' deeper recesses.

More bizarre still were the sheer number of electrical outlets set low in the concrete. Equidistant from each other, the outlets were set with a distinct purpose and Steve tried to understand what could have once been constructed in the room requiring so much electricity.  But a faint movement and subtle moan drew his attention immediately back towards his main priority and Steve glowered angrily, a strong yank on his cuffs only worsening the bruises around his wrists.

"Danny?" Steve called out quietly as his eyes fell on the sprawled, unmoving outline of his best friend. The men had left them alone a few seconds earlier after securing Steve to the wall and only after turning all of their attention solely towards Danny.  Their eyes had scarcely met, Danny's full of an astonished pain at Steve's unfortunate arrival when he'd been dragged to his feet. Knuckles had been cracked with a gleeful joy and Danny had been beaten down into the floor despite Steve's furious objections. Dropped where he lay now, other than his breathing which was punctuated by an audible raspy hitch, Danny hadn't moved or made a single sound since. But now, Steve was sure that he'd seen a faint shiver and heard the undertone of yet another pained moan.

"You okay?" He asked for what seemed the hundredth time in the short span he'd been there. "Can you hear me? Danny?"   Steve's sigh was fraught with anger and worry when there was still no reply. Things weren't at all what he'd anticipated and help would be long in coming; if at all. Danny had been taken a full day earlier and Steve only recently after believing he was gearing up for an exchange of sorts to appease the temper of Angelo Gibbons, a felon with an incredible reach.

Himself for his partner as a higher bargaining chip amongst law enforcement. A ploy to buy more time, get Danny safely home, and bring Gibbons to justice.

But it hadn't quite gone down that way. Not at all in fact.

Steve thought he'd played Gibbons well, allowing the murderer a perceived freedom to make all the calls and lob demands his way, which he'd dutifully responded to. In fact, Steve's reactions to his own demands for proof of life had been more than honest in their fury when he saw the texted images of his partner's battered face.  Still and even because of these things, Steve had been positive that his team had been at least one step ahead of the man. Steve had been more than confident in having final control over the situation. Absolutely secure in the belief that they'd have Danny back in one whole piece by the end of the operation.

So Steve had bickered and protested just enough to show his unease but then allowed Gibbons to seemingly set the stage, setup the meet and coordinate the details for the exchange.  Despite his worry ever-increasing over Danny's well-being, Steve had been confident in how the exchange would really go down. However, things were not as they seemed to be and Steve hadn't even made it to the designated location. Confidence had quickly been replaced by doubt and a distinct feeling of ignorance.

Thwarted and distinctly out-numbered, Steve had been intercepted early on and then simply gone along with whom he thought were Gibbons’ men. If nothing else, he’d hoped to be brought to the same location as his missing partner. And thankfully, he had been.  But this was where Plan B seemed to have come to a screeching halt.  Steve now had no idea where they were being held and making matters much worse was, that despite the subterfuge of the supposed deal, Steve had a growing suspicion that Gibbons wasn't truly behind either his or Danny’s abductions.  And that only meant that his team would similarly be looking in all the wrong places.

Everything about his predicament had become a perplexing and complicated unknown.  Angry and frustrated by his terrible lack of options, Steve's only immediate sense of relief was quite simple: he was indeed with Danny.

"Danny. Answer me," Steve called out again, positive that his partner was looking at him when he saw a faint twinkle of glassy blueness. "Hey buddy," he breathed out, a faint smile providing a poor attempt at offering some semblance of calm. "How're you doing?" 

He was sure that Danny was looking directly at him, but Steve's distress grew when Danny didn't answer him though. Instead, Danny began an incessant unintelligible murmuring, blue eyes shining in the dim light, and Steve winced at the weird reaction.

"Danny? What's wrong?"  His eyes narrowed even more in confusion and worry as the sound of a much too soft monotone whispered frighteningly through the room.  And as Steve once more tore at his trapped wrists, he pushed Angelo Gibbons firmly to the side in order to curse his ignorance. _Something more was definitely wrong_.  

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	2. Chapter 2

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

"Danny?"

Ignoring his partner's endless questioning and worried curses as he tried to stay grounded, Danny repeated his semi-private mantra. His voice was a susurrus of sound in a vain attempt to drown out the conflicting voice in his ear; his lips moving rapidly over and over. Between his dirty fingers, his blood-stained thumbs ran soothingly over the jagged edges of the broken bit of glass he'd managed to keep hidden from this most recent round of attack.

_Stay awake. That's all I have to do. Otherwise they've promised to take him away._

_"You didn't believe me. Did you?"_ The chuffed male voice chuckled in pleasure over his repetitive chanting.

Danny heaved in a strangled breath of air and promptly choked over his own tongue. No, he certainly hadn't believed it possible. A simple communications device had been shoved into his ear during a round with his still unknown captor's hired goons before Steve had been summarily presented to him. Stunned at the time, he'd struggled harder as one man held his head still and the other pushed the device firmly into place. Since then, he'd been dealing with an unwelcome voice droning on in his ear, lobbing a series of threats in real time. Though he wanted to rip it from his head, the comm link was the only line of communication - vile as it might have been - and Danny didn't dare try to remove it. Especially after Steve's unfortunate arrival. He didn't dare do a single thing since all of those threats were now all too tangible.

At the sight of his partner, Danny's bewilderment was obvious and all fight had left him as his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. When the men had leered at him - getting down to business again just for fun - Danny had nothing left in him at that point and only his reflexes had kept him from dropping his prized piece of glass. He'd no stamina left to budge even an inch as they unceremoniously allowed him to collapse to the filth of the floor.

Steve had gasped at the sight of him, too, vowing to rip the arms off each of their captors' bodies based on Danny's bruised and bloodied appearance. A threat which had made Danny lift his lips into a tired grin, because he could well imagine what he looked like. Anger which had only escalated when they'd turned on him once more as a show of force.

Besides the drone from a voice which was nearly incessant, Danny now had something else to contend with: Steve's capture. It wasn't supposed to ever have happened and Danny was devastated. Beyond the sheer pleasure of his unknown adversary eventually having his partner in hand, he'd been warned of something special to come since he'd had too much to say - because he seriously lacked the restraint as to when to cease speaking. Whatever this promised gift might be, Danny now knew it would be significant. He certainly believed every word he'd been told.

_'You thought my words idle, Detective. You didn't believe me. And look ... he's here just as I'd vowed, so my plans are well in motion. Nothing can stop me! So stay awake or I take him and kill him this very minute. Then ... it's over for good. It's over for the two of you.'_

This last warning was delivered succinctly to drown out Steve's voice and even destroy his concentration. His chanting ground to a halt and he quieted for a moment just to breathe. The threat against his friend was absolutely strong enough to keep Danny nearly as silent as a church mouse.

"Just ... please. Don't ... don't do anything," he mumbled tiredly. "Why though?"

_"No. More. Talking. Stay calm ... stay awake or I take him. Then ... it's over for good - sooner rather than later and I'd so wanted to prolong our time together."_

He nodded weakly to the severity of the voice inside his ear. A voice which sounded almost familiar at least in its intentions. Yet Danny simply couldn't wrap his aching head around who or where or when. Frustrated with himself, he nodded again to a whispered warning to not answer his partner, his chuffed, resentful sound of consent muffled into the floor. He shifted his arms through the inky puddle he lay in, trying to tuck them into his body as if to gain some warmth. In truth, he was testing the shard of glass he'd hidden as he awkwardly shifted it to run against the two zip-ties binding his wrists together. Once he achieved this obstacle, with luck he'd managed his doubly bound ankles next before being discovered.

"You can't keep this up," Steve said. "Just what the hell do you thinking you're trying to do, Danny?" It was apparent that Steve was tired too. Tired, frustrated and beyond perplexed, but his voice was decidedly stronger than Danny's. "Talk to me ... give me something to work with."

Danny snorted helplessly at that:  _something to work with?_

He'd been there for hours and except of a lousy piece of broken glass, he had zero accomplishments to his name. Stronger and definitely more angry when Danny stared at him but remained inexplicably silent, Steve stayed angry. Danny heard him mutter a few choice threats of his own which might not be so idle if he'd not been restrained to a concrete wall.

"What did they do to you?" Steve pressed him again. His voice was lower and his tone thoughtful, and Danny nearly grinned as he focused on his small piece of glass. "It's obvious that whoever this is wanted the two of us. You can't keep this up, Danno. You don't have to - I'm here. I'll figure things out ... help's on its way, but give me an idea of what we're dealing with. Say something ... come on, Danno. Talk to me. You don't have to take this on alone. Whatever they're threatening you with, it's not going to work."

 _'Yeah, you're wrong there, buddy. I have to,'_  Danny replied mentally, dutifully keeping silent as a hoarse cough rattled deeply inside his chest. ' _And it's you ... just you,'_ he thought worriedly to himself without a hint of rancor. ' _And as far as you being here? I didn't believe he could do it and now ... well, yeah ... now. That's precisely what this guy managed to do.'_

" _Fuck",_ he whimpered under his breath when the glass slipped to slice his palm open. He blinked his eyes at the sharpness of the wound and then bit his lip to stay quiet, trying to hide his pain from both men. He breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth, and winced when his breath juddered through a cough. His ribs were at least cracked, one up high probably worse because he could literally hear the bone on bone grinding creak. A break there was a certainty since every one of his shallow inhales pinged sharply inside; coughing though? That resulted in a heated flood of pain that flared deeply into his back. As he tried to stifle his coughs, the pain took his breath completely away and Danny closed his eyes wearily to regain some of his energy. But in doing so, the room began to spin behind his lids band his senses started to dim, his hearing going first. Alarmed as Steve's voice faded away into a tunnel, Danny jolted himself back to the present.

" _Wh_  ... what?" He pushed out, his teeth chattering and not knowing if anyone - including Steve - had actually said anything at all.

 _"Detective? Staying awake?"_ The hated voice rumbled warningly through his head.  _"Are you still with me?"_

"Yeah," he mumbled. "M'here. M'good." Petrified of losing the battle as the voice devolved into a sly chortle, Danny started up on his mantra again. Fingers now slick with blood, he fumbled for the piece of glass, clutching it tightly in desperation.

"Stay awake," he whispered to himself. "Stay awake and shut up. Just stay awake. That's all I have to do. It's easy enough."

His earnest, monotone whispering echoed steady across the room towards Steve who he vaguely heard give out with an angry curse. Though he likely couldn't make out the words, Steve didn't know what he was doing. He didn't know why. Steve didn't know that if he didn't stay conscious and aware, then they'd both lose. Danny'd been warned time and again - as each bone-jarring fist landed to his face, his side, his stomach. This time, he believed each and every word of it, too.

If he fell asleep or lost consciousness, they'd promised to take Steve away and kill him outright with no qualms. None whatsoever. Then, they'd come back and kill him, too. It was a lose-lose situation unless he stayed awake and took the abuse they were doling out. He blinked wildly and gently shook his head to push away the gray which threatened the edges of his vision. He'd originally thought the promises impossible and now with Steve really here, Danny certainly knew better. Whomever was in control certainly had the means and he meant business.

"Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake," he murmured, grimacing as earned himself a sickening side serving of vertigo.

"Danno, knock that shit off," Steve literally growled deep in his throat as he uselessly tested and retested his bindings. He could see Danny's furious blinking and sporadic deep swallows indicating a serious enough level of nausea. Frustrated at not being able to do a blessed thing, Steve shook his head and cursed softly under his breath when Danny coughed again and then moaned in pain. He could guess the injuries and was growing more and more worried with each passing minute.

"Stop. What the hell are you doing? Just ... Danny ... relax and breathe slowly. Take it slow, buddy. Where are you hurt, huh?"

Danny knew he sounded awful. He could hear it himself. There was a wet rasp to each of his own muffled syllables. Then sometimes, a tight pained cough. Worse than those things though, Danny knew that it wasn't too dark for Steve to at least see the tremble of his shoulders or the weak shifting of his upper body as he tried to ease the strain on his chest.

But he didn't open his mouth to answer the questions now. Though he'd originally discounted each and every one, the warnings against his partner had been clear and he found himself obediently towing an invisible line.

_Stay awake and don't talk back - and when he comes, don't say a word._

Danny had fought those rules, even brazenly laughing into his captors' faces when they taunted him about how near they were to getting Steve next. He'd taunted them in kind, knowing that his partner was too smart to be taken by surprise. Never quite believing that the threats could truly be acted upon, Danny had taken his faceless attacker head on and assumed he'd surprise them by breaking free. However, that plan had been fine until Steve had arrived. Danny had accepted their abuse readily, fully believing the standoff would end soon enough, and that the vows were empty - until Steve had been hustled down the long wooden staircase.

"Shit," Danny seethed angrily under his breath as he fought his instincts to reply. The clink of metal on concrete and fevered grunts proved that Steve was fighting to break free. By not answering, Danny was virtually setting Steve up to fight, but he didn't dare say a word as a soft, pleased chuckle echoed through the communications link.

_"Well done, Detective. Well done."_

"Go to hell," Danny breathed out brokenly to the retort of another loud laugh. He was exhausted and there was a sharp taint of tannic blood staining the inside of his mouth. More, dried and flaky, caked his lips and chin, and he could barely see after having sustained a particularly hard hit to the head. Nonetheless, he stared back at Steve and didn't dare close his eyes or give in to his injuries. Every minute he obeyed was another minute that each of them had a chance to live. A longer period of time where help might still come and Danny needed to capitalize on whatever he could.

_Stay awake. That's all I have to do. Just ... stay awake._

Taken from his own driveway more than twenty-four hours earlier and running well on empty due to less than stellar care, he needed to stay awake and keep his eyes on his newly arrived partner. But the task was nearly impossible after being so rudely deposited back on the hard concrete, fresh blood flowing from re-opened wounds as he was used as an example. This time, entirely for Steve's sake to compound the colorful images snapped and texted to him so many hours earlier of his badly treated partner. It was a brutal test and kept at a clear disadvantage, Danny'd been setup to fail on purpose.

Danny sighed wetly, the taste of blood coating his tongue. He didn't really know what to do anymore. Even if by some miracle he might be able to free himself by using a slender sliver of glass, he doubted his ability to move at all.  In all reality, he wouldn't have time to reach Steve. His vision ebbed and flowed whenever he moved his head even a fraction of an inch, the grayish tinge to his periphery admittedly alarming. Then, if he didn't move, things weren't much better for the ongoing rainbow blur of colors and shadows.

His fingers moved of their own accord despite his misgivings. As he worked on the zip-ties, he could at least talk to the voice in his head and try to keep the conversation live. As a delay tactic, it was the best he could offer.

"Steve? Why ... why is he here? What the hell do you want?" Danny croaked softly, the result that of a disapproving  _cluck_  of the man's tongue resonating in his ear. It was eerie and quite sufficient as way of threat, and Danny paused, doubtful of continuing. Briefly squeezing his eyes shut before trying to focus on the distant outline of his friend's head, Danny finally persisted. He simply needed to try something.

"No, tell me why."

 _"Because it's his fault," t_ he man replied, anger and hatred riddling his tone.  _"All of this ... is his fault."_

"What for?" Danny slurred while he frowned in confusion, a damaged tooth or two wobbling dangerously inside his mouth. His fingers slowed and then paused entirely as he considered the new information. "His fault ... why? For what?"

Danny had only been able to derive that he was the bait in this ever-frightening escapade. Similarly to his partner who was believing something else entirely, Danny still didn't know a single thing behind the why of it though. He didn't know a single damned thing about anything at all. He'd been almost savagely roughed up since being taken from his home until he could barely stand on his own. Except for threats against Steve should he not obey each and every order thrown his way, no other clear demands had been made of him. Nothing shared except the knowledge that the man calling the shots was using him to get Steve. And seeing as he had achieved precisely his goal, this nameless and faceless person was powerful and extremely careful. But at least the man was talking now and so Danny did his best to press on. He needed to know more to have even a slim chance at negotiation.

"Tell me," Danny rasped out through a long period of disturbing silence where he thought he heard a sobbed inhale. "Why? What did he do to you?"

Definitely concussed and beyond exhausted, Danny was now constantly dizzy and feeling sick from the ongoing tannic scent of his own blood which overwhelmed his sinuses. He had to work hard to stay focused on asking the right questions. Hunger had never been a problem, but thirst was another story entirely. He was parched after so many hours and his tongue was tacky, virtually sticking to the roof of his mouth. Thinking was hard and speaking, difficult. He focused though when he heard the breathy inhale on the opposite side of the comm link. There was almost an upset growl - an emotional flux which didn't bode well for Danny's astute experiences and he visibly winced at what he sensed.

 _"He's getting a lesson in ... loss. Pain. Suffering,"_  his tormentor finally offered through a slow purposeful drawl. Then there was another short silence before he spoke again. This time, his voice loud and full of a heart-felt emotion.

_"McGarrett took my life away from me ... and now, I'll do the same to him! This is ... payback! Yes. Maybe you could call this ... payback!"_

"Payback? For ... who?" Danny puffed into the dirty floor, cursing as he tried to keep his voice down and his own emotions under wraps as the man unraveled. Still he was rattling his bruised chest badly and earning even more of Steve's confused attention. The anxious questions started up again in earnest when he coughed wetly, a thin trickle of blood tracing down his chin. But based on the caution in the tone, Danny realized then that Steve was sensing the existence of their strange interloper.

"Danny? Talk to me. Are you okay? What … what in the hell's going on?"

He made a disgruntled sound in his throat as he half-listened to each man. One begging an answer and the other promising retribution. Grinding his forehead almost viscously into the concrete, Danny growled his anger into the floor as he tried to keep himself from responding to Steve. He was hurting, angry and growing more desperate as he wiped the blood from his chin into his tattered sleeve. He cursed just loud enough for his tormenter to hear, his frustration making the man chuckle through a thinly veiled sob. "Why is he here?  _Fucking bastard._ "

 _"Now, now, Detective. Mind your manners. You'll both know soon enough,"_ his voice intoned. Upset yes, nonetheless, the confidence the man exuded was nothing less than terrifying.  _"I'm taking great pleasure in the fact that you'll know soon enough indeed."_

Realizing that he was shaking nearly uncontrollably now, Danny narrowed his eyes as he picked a spot in the filth of the old floor while he tried to quiet his body. He tiredly chugged through all their current and most recent cases. His eyes blindly settled on the sparkle of more bits of glass and what looked like chicken wire as he vainly searched through a mental catalog for a likely suspect. Someone who Steve in particular might have antagonized and he almost laughed to himself. There was a laundry list, but nothing so current he'd know and his addled brain came up empty time and again. He still simply didn't know enough to put his finger on any one particular person or motive.

 _Payback_  … the one word was critical but he still couldn't derive the reason behind it and with Steve now here, too, the stakes were even higher. He'd been used as the carrot to force Steve's hand and Danny silently promised himself another tete-at-tete with his bone-headed partner for doing whatever he'd done without proper back-up.

But ...  _who_  could have the reach to have succeeded? Who could or would blame Steve for completely taking their life away?

Focused on the small sparkle of glass, Danny chuffed a helpless sound because his brain insisted on wandering. It simply refused to cooperate. His snort of disgust was an immediate mistake though and this time, Danny groaned loudly. The flare of pain inside his chest overwhelming as he gagged through a bout of nausea so strong, he nearly did lose consciousness.

"No," he mumbled stupidly to himself as he dimly registered Steve's corresponding rise in distress. "No,  _nonono_."

"Danny! Answer me, dammit!" Steve called to him again, the clang and scrape of metal against concrete telling as he escalated his struggles. "Danny! What's wrong!?"

He moaned again as Steve continually shouted out to him, this time Danny's own anger and frustration making him try to right his upper body by elbowing himself to a partially seated position. The effort was costly though and did little to actually keep him more aware. Head hanging low, Danny made it to his side, propped up on his left forearm and panting through his mouth while a long line of blood perpetually dripped from his lips. He closed his eyes and willed himself to breathe normally, long enough to gather a tacky bit of moisture to spit a bloody wad to the ground in front of him.

"M'fine," he chuffed out weakly to himself, his voice not carrying beyond his nose as he refused to give in to his body's need to collapse from injury and strain. He smiled weakly, all for his own benefit as he argued the nasty voice in his ear. He couldn't afford to lose, but his self-encouragement was a poor attempt indeed as the man's sarcastic taunts filled his head.

"See ... I'm ... awake. M'good," Danny murmured, knowing he was going to fail within seconds of uttering the last syllable.

Danny fought for his reserves as he forced himself to remain somewhat upright. He knew he was lying to himself though. He gagged again as his chest tightened like a vise, the world tipping on end as he caused himself a wave of vertigo so strong that he wavered sickeningly in place. He shook his head as if in slow motion to dispel the evil laugh in his ear, his vision now virtually gone as his body simply gave out.

"Steve ... Steve, ... I, " he whispered helplessly as his eyes rolled backwards into his head.

"Danny!" Steve's worried shout echoed as Danny crumpled back down into a sloppy heap, his bound wrists dropping limply to the side, the small jagged piece of glass slipping free from his fingers. "Danny!" Eyes widened in shock when Danny didn't move again and unable to see if he was still breathing, Steve bellowed in the direction of the staircase, his fisted hands pulling relentlessly on the metal cuffs.

"Hey! Help! He needs help ... someone get the hell down here!"

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> NOTES: yeah, yeah ... not REALLY the guys ... but the inevitable plot has to be told!

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

"The human psyche is an interesting thing," Doctor Franklin Ray murmured almost distractedly as he watched the grainy picture on his laptop. He sat there entranced, chin resting on tented fingers as he watched the detective collapse from his former study. The camera he'd placed in his once elaborate den was setup where he could pan between his two captives, but he preferred to focus on just the one while listening to the other holler for help.

His cheeks were pinked and his eyes glassy as he struggled to maintain his composure. Being in his once grand house and knowing the magnificence of what his den had been were difficult things to digest. It had taken him years to build his home and fine-tune his ambitions into things of sheer perfection. Now, Frank had to fight from thinking about his friend, Riku, and from dwelling on his losses. From thinking about the personal successes he'd achieved - then been forced to lose - through the losses of his children.

"It's his fault," Frank whispered quietly into his fist. "And he's going to pay."

 _His children._ Almost all of which had been destroyed - _killed_ by the Five-0 Commander's edict. Frank sniffed back a watery tear for all that had once been so dear in his life. None of it existed anymore. Murdered. Taken. Re-homed to the horrors of a zoo where they'd be ogled by an ignorant public.

Everything had been _stolen_ from him by one man and he was determined to exact his revenge by doing the same in kind. He would force McGarrett to watch as his friend was taken, too, before he also died.

"One might have a moment of bravery, but then ... that feeling can be dashed so very, very quickly into that of ... fear. Doubt. When that happens, fear can even replace .. loyalty. Friendship. Love. Then, there's only the need for self-preservation."

He was really talking to himself. But he stopped and glanced up, automatically registering where each of his three hired men were standing within the confines of his old study. One was by the doorway to the hallway, gun in hand and conceivably keeping an ear tuned towards the main drive. In reality, he was terrified of what was being housed in the room.

The second stood by his side, nonchalant and unfazed by the goings on. But the third man, who was enthralled by the glass tanks situated on the otherwise empty expanse of library shelving, made Frank smile in pleasure.

"You approve?" Frank asked as he sat in a dusty folding chair behind his large desk and stretched long to get the kinks out of his back. Only the heavy wooden desk remained, the windows shielded by heavy dark drapes to keep the blistering sunlight out. The study had an air of aged history about it now and for a moment, Frank got lost in the knowledge of what it had once been. He glowered angrily at what he could feel and see proof of until the third man oozed his appreciation.

"Hell yeah! They're the real deal, aren't they?" Harrison, Angelo Gibbon's third most trusted man, asked as he boldly bent over, peering mere inches from one of the three glass tanks.

Frank shook his doldrums away as he made an agreeable sound to watch Harrison peck his finger inquisitively at the glass of the first tank. Initially insulted by Gibbons' desire to validate his intentions by sending a watch-dog, Frank fully appreciated the felon's valued friend and it wasn't only because they shared a first name.

Simply put: Frank Harrison loved snakes. He was infatuated by them and was instantly on board with the older doctor's methods in permanently dispatching the Five-0 Commander.

"Very real indeed," Frank replied with an easy grin as he watched Harrison study his youngest. He genuinely liked Gibbons' sociable third in command and was grateful for his newly established relationship with the felon, as well. Reaching out to Gibbons for help in what was truly a mutual objective, had certainly provided a treasure trove of benefits.

While there was no doubt that he was an evil man and a murderer by design, Frank lacked the finesse which a life-long, career street criminal had honed. He needed someone different from himself with better connections. Someone enticing enough who Five-0 thought a credible threat so that a trap could be deployed. So Frank had done his due diligence and had selected Gibbons as a likely business partner based upon research and his understanding of the felon's hatred towards McGarrett in particular. Though Angelo Gibbons probably didn't need the likes of Doctor Franklin Ray, they both held similar goals. Each wanted McGarrett dead and so, Frank had reached out to Gibbons through a series of criminal leads to introduce himself and the most interesting of ideas. It had taken time and a commitment to work through layers of mistrust. But with Frank's persistence, a deal had finally been struck with one agreeing to laying the trap and the other promising to achieve the mutual goals.

"What's this one again?" Harrison asked, his breath fogging the glass to the tank. "Did you say it was a Pit viper?"

"It is," Frank replied. "From Malaysia. The other is a Krait, also from Malaysia. Both are deadly."

He only had three snakes in his possession. His ability to gain access to his obsession and travel freely had been greatly diminished, but he was determined to rebuild his den. Each of the three had been hard to come by and were precious to him. Each represented the foundation for a new life and each one of this new generation would take on the responsibility of retribution for their older siblings' _murders_. It was a fine comeuppance which Doctor Franklin Ray was extremely content with.

Frank cocked his head to silently query a fourth man standing resolutely to the side. His new Asian handler stared back, his gaze expressionless as he discounted the bulk of the conversation. As all of them were doing too, he equally ignored the panicked shouts for help from the distraught Commander which emanated not only up from the depths of the house, but also through the laptop's speakers. Frank pursed his lips when the Asian's mouth tightened unhappily though as Harrison increased his rapping on the glass tank. His handler might have been respectfully quiet by nature, but he most certainly didn't approve of Harrison's ill-treatment and the reptiles were already in hostile moods.

"Harrison," Frank suddenly said. He didn't turn around to look at Gibbon's third. Instead, he gave a circumspect tilt of his head to communicate his understanding to his dear Riku's replacement. He wasn't entirely at ease with his new snake handler and he needed to foster trust and work at this relationship in particular.

"Don't do that ... it's ... rude. Leave them alone. Get away from the tanks."

"Yeah, sure. Sorry, Doc," he heard Harrison say, a childish sigh blowing out loudly as he moved away to take a position by the window.

"When?" Appeased, the Asian asked his question quietly. Looped around his neck and draped almost sensually over his shoulders, a slender four-foot yellow and white ball python curled its long body. As Frank watched, the snake almost seemed content to allow her head to rest on her keeper's wrist.

He ached to hold her, too, pining for the feel of her cool, smooth scales against his skin. But his head quickly swiveled back towards his laptop when he heard he change in the Commander's tone. He smiled widely then, a nod indicating his surprise as he heard the low moan and saw the detective's head roll to the side. The younger man was waking already and he was intrigued - happy that he could continue so quickly.

"You'll bring her down to him soon," Frank replied to his professional handler after a moment as he adjusted the volume on the speakers. He interlaced his fingers, settling his chin back on the level they created, once more raptly intent on the goings-on in his lower level. "Very, very soon."

"But what's the point of that one?" Harrison interrupted in confusion as he pointed to the ball python which the Asian held in his arms. "That one's not poisonous and it's way too small to squeeze him to death."

Frank looked up, his expression incredulous as he chuffed a giggle back. "Are you serious Harrison?" His grin grew wide as he leaned back in his chair to reach his fingers out to gently caress the reptile's beautiful lemon-colored scales.

"Tell me ... have you ever scared anyone to death?"

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	4. Chapter 4

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Steve stared hard at Danny, willing him to do something or say anything. Lying on his side, bound wrists limp, Danny looked dead though and Steve heaved in a breath that ended on a shattered, windless cough. He was covered now in a dusty sheen of sweat and breathing hard from stress and exertion. Hands still fisted high over his head, his shoulders had begun to burn, but he didn't have time for the physical pain.

"Come on, buddy. Hear me," Steve pleaded quietly. "Open your eyes. Say something." His wrists were bleeding too, but Steve didn't notice as he focused all of his attention on the rumpled shape of his friend. Danny was badly injured. They were in real trouble and Steve was desperate for an option - any option to level the playing field and get Danny the medical attention he needed.

"Dammit, Danny. Come on pal," he whispered softly, knowing too well that there was some sort of communications device planted either near or on his partner. A link to the outside world which was allowing their captor not only to hear the two of them, but also directly taunt and toy with his friend. Steve had practically shouted himself hoarse, begging for help and no one had shown up. Not a single soul had made a move from the upper floor to help and there was no way that he hadn't been heard; the sad truth of the matter was that no one cared.

Whomever had managed to abduct both he and Danny with such finesse, was evidently done with his partner since he now had Steve firmly in his grasp.

Danny had quickly become expendable and that fact tore at Steve's heart.

But something else was incredibly wrong – someone else other than Gibbons was in charge and calling the shots because the felon simply didn't operate in this manner. He was powerful enough to have come after them alone. Angelo Gibbons didn't need a business partner, nor did he send lackeys to do his bidding. The entire concept of the man teaming with someone was unfathomable. Without the right intel in hand though, Steve was completely in the dark and at a significant loss of what to do next. Conversely, Steve was unable to come up with any single person or entity who'd willingly team with Gibbons on such an elaborate scheme, but his mental ramblings ended when he heard the faintest of sounds.

"Danny," Steve hissed the name, the urgency in his tone begging Danny to be all right when he heard the soft moan and saw the feeble turn of the blonde head. "Please ... Danno," he muttered through gritted teeth. Completely frustrated, Steve closed his eyes briefly when Danny didn't respond and ceased his weak movements. Except for a body-wide tremble, there was nothing.

With all the strength he could muster, Steve wrapped his bruised fingers once more around the short chain connecting the handcuffs to the eye-bolt. He yanked hard, even pulling himself off the ground in an attempt to leverage all of his weight against the metal fastening. When that failed to do more than bring down yet another puff of stone dust upon his head, he pushed upwards, grunting in pain as he tried to loosen the big bolt.

He repeated the strong tug and push multiple times, adding bruises to his palms and causing fresh rivulets of blood to seep down his wrists until Danny made another sound. Though it was faint and hardly more than a whisper, Steve heard him and immediately stopped what he was doing. Using the side of his arm, Steve swiped grit from his eyes and squinted through the dim light.

Danny's fingers were moving. Scrabbling weakly across the dirt and muck of the floor, _his fingers were moving_ and his breathing - though erratic - had increased.

"Danny ... _Danny_!" Steve whispered loudly, with an ear tuned towards the staircase should their attackers decide to show up again.

" _Hmmm_ ," Danny murmured weakly into the air, his chest heaving in response to his inability to breathe normally. With the flux of pain and his breath now nothing more than a series of shallow pants, Danny was barely conscious as his blurry view of the ceiling twinkled in and then out. He couldn't keep his eyes open for long, but he had to at least try as Steve called out to him again.

"Say something ... anything," Steve pleaded. "Danny ... can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Danny eventually pushed out, entirely depressed when he realized where he still was. "Steve." He squeezed his eyes closed and opened them again, staring upwards, only slightly mollified that he could see a bit better because his head was pounding mercilessly. He drew in a careful breath and tried not to cough when his chest flared through a wave of agony. "Steve ... m'here."

"Danny … thank God," Steve practically smiled in relief when Danny finally answered him. "Talk to me. What's wrong? Where are you hurt?"

Danny opened his mouth, his voice so soft, that at first, Steve thought he'd said nothing at all.

"Head," Danny repeated softly. "Chest ... somethings not right ... hurts ... all the time."

"Okay. All right," Steve replied quickly as he mentally catalogued the likely causes. "Just take it easy ... try not to move. What else, huh ... anything else wrong?" He'd gotten a good look at Danny's face and general condition; all of that made worse by the last round after his arrival. Concussion was a sure bet and Steve also assumed broken ribs as another part of the problem. What he was beginning to fear the most though was an internal bleed.

"Can't see ... right," Danny offered on an exhale. "Migraine ... feel sick. Don't ... don't wanna .. move. M'cold, Steve." His voice faded then until nothing came out as his simple store of energy waned. He was bone-tired and incredibly sick. His head and back were on fire, along with the never-ending creak and groan inside his chest. As shivers wracked his body, he found any last lingering hopes fading away. He just couldn't do it anymore and he almost willingly closed his eyes.

"Hey ... hey, hey. Don't do that ... Danny. No!" Steve's voice was tinny and receding further as Danny's hearing tunneled merrily along to play games with his shaky state of awareness. For a very long time, Danny couldn't reply as his head lolled limply from side to side. Too slow to recover from a dead faint, Danny simply couldn't get himself back together enough and he had no choice at all except to lay where he was as everything flowed around him on a discordant wave of sound.

 _Steve was there_ ; as was the sound of the voice in his ear. But everything lacked substance. Even his mantra was nothing more than a buzzed memory now. Yet its portent lurked in the back of his mind as a terrible reminder. It teased him like the voice, but it wasn't strong enough to force him from his fugue.

"Danno, come on buddy ... talk to me. Try to stay awake ... you've got to try," Steve coached persistently from the opposite side of the room. Danny's description of how he was faring was plain terrifying. Adding in his lapses of consciousness and the fact that the admitted to being cold, and Steve felt his sense of desperation grow ten-fold. He needed to find a way out for them. He absolutely needed to get Danny to a hospital. Frustrated, he glared upwards towards the ceiling when he thought he heard footsteps, wary and on guard. His mind raced as he readied for anything, however, after a time, nothing happened. No one came down the stairs.

Danny murmured uncomfortably, his brow lined heavily with tension. Someone was talking to him; close and much too loud.

" _Trouble_?" The sinister voice asked inside Danny's head, the ghostly smile more than evident at his plight. " _Having some problems ... some trouble down there, Detective Williams? How are you and Commander McGarrett holding up?"_

_Steve._

Danny roused more as the intent of the words sank into his brain at the intent of the words , the voice growing stronger in his head as he came around with a start. With a soft whine of protest, he dug his fingernails into the filthy dampness of the concrete floor to assure himself that the room wasn't really spinning crazily out of control. He was positive that his eventual grunted sound of acquiescence did very little to provide Steve with any confidence about his well being. It did even less for the man inside his head based upon the coy announcement which intimated a frightening change in plans.

 _"This senseless waiting ...when I don't have to. So ... yesssss ... I don't think I'm going to wait,"_ the man whispered as he dramatically verbalized his personal ponderings for Danny to hear. _"Why wait when everything is now so neatly in place? I have what I want ... I've the means ... and I've waited far too long already."_

"Stop," Danny murmured in distress. "No ... please ... please just ... _stop_. No."

"Danny?" Steve practically growled his name out from the opposite side of the room. His voice was deadly calm now. Yet he was seething on the inside and growing increasingly leery of Danny's odd one-sided mumblings. "What is he saying - what does he want?"

"No," Danny didn't know which man he was talking to and he choked as he inhaled sharply, eyes wedged tightly closed as he fought to garner a volume of air into his straining lungs. He wanted to tell Steve. He needed to say _something_. He needed to warn him. Inside his head though, the phantom-like chuckling increased two-fold and Danny's mouth slammed closed as his heart thundered in his chest.

 _"Were you going to say something, Detective? Do you want me to wait?"_ The voice was full of a sardonic pride, a pleased chuckle only adding to the ongoing insults and providing the challenge which Danny needed to rally. _"Other than for my own personal enjoyment, what is the use in prolonging the inevitable?"_

"What … what the hell do you want?" Driven by fear, Danny's breath hitched as his voice rose. He coughed again, squinting his eyes in pain as another helpless moan broke free to bubble up from deep inside his chest. The laugher in his ear re-doubled and he knew he'd lost entirely to whatever sick experiment he'd been made part of ... along with Steve. His chest burned with the most subtle of moves and Danny needed to control his emotions as he fought to stay centered and he heard another ruthless chortle of sound.

 _"Stay with me now Detective. You're not sounding very coherent_ ," the man chided lightly.

"Just … _fuck_. Who the hell … who are you?" Danny stammered, his pretense of remaining calm falling to the wayside. He honestly was scared now; the tremor in his voice testament to his struggle to maintain some semblance of self-control. "We can talk ... just ... talk it out ... if I understood what you ... what you wanted. We could ... talk."

" _Talk? No,"_ the voice rudely interrupted. " _This will play out ... my way."_

"Danno," Steve pressed on all too quietly, oblivious to the content of the quarrel and yet knowing that Danny was being driven to extremes. In his opinion, there was only one method left to manage what little they could of the situation and he demanded that Danny listen and obey him, just this once.

"Don't engage him, Danno ... don't talk to him. Don't let him get to you. Stay with me, buddy. Just me. Take it easy ... breathe and slow down. Come on, you can do this."

_"So ... touching how much he cares. The two of you ... I'd no idea of this ... loyalty. It makes my plans so much the more satisfying to know. To know that he will value what I'm taking from him ... that your value to him rivals what was taken from me."_

"Please," Danny whispered plaintively as the man's hatred layered each worsening threat. Bound tightly and too weak to protect himself, he was beginning to panic at the helplessness of their situation. He was in pain and yet forced each word out on a panted puff of air. "You … you can't ... do this _with_ ... without telling me ...what ... what it is you want. _What_ ... _who_ was taken ... from you?"

"Danny, stop. _Stop_ and listen to me," Steve demanded more loudly, a metallic clang proving his ongoing fight to break free. He could hear the strain in Danny's voice. Petrified of quite literally losing his partner, he couldn't help raising his own. "If you can, ditch the link! Do not engage him! Danny ... knock it off and listen to me, dammit!"

 _"Ah! So smart! He's figured some of this out, hasn't he? Yet, he still has no idea of what's to come ... and neither do you."_ The voice whispered relentlessly into Danny's ear, before changing cadence entirely. The switch was stunning in its intensity and Danny felt his hopes at any negotiation, crash to earth.

 _"He cares ... he cares so much like my ... my own ..."_ And the voice trailed off with what sounded like a pained sob until it returned a few seconds later, stronger than ever before. _"His fault ... what happens next ... is entirely his fault!"_

Stricken by the futility of his predicament, Danny ground his aching temple into the floor in abject denial. He lost no matter what he chose to do. Talk. Not talk. Argue or negotiate. He had zero places to go and nothing to offer. He only had trouble made worse by his own growing list of woes that prevented him from thinking straight and concentrating. He was so incredibly tired by that point, he groaned wearily to himself, his shoulders visibly sagging in defeat.

"Danny, I swear to _God_ ...," Steve ground out angrily when he saw the change worsen in his partner. "Don't listen to him!"

"He ... he wants to kill you," Danny interrupted breathlessly. Eyes wedged shut and with the damp coolness of the concrete leeching into his forehead, he spoke almost into the ground.

"Says ... what's going ... to happen is your ... your fault." He paused his incessant argument with the faceless voice, no longer caring about the threats because he had no leverage. Nothing at all to ask or beg for; nothing to learn. He could only warn Steve of what might be coming.

"It doesn't matter, Danno," Steve spat out angrily, a modicum of relief for finally having Danny's attention evident by a subtle shifting of his stance. But he was upset and worried, and it took all his strength to find a neutral place. He was decidedly more calm when he did and his voice fell to a more natural level as he focused solely on Danny's well-being. He was practically vibrating though, his stores of pent-up energy were thrumming into his muscles on an adrenalin high.

With a ragged inhale, Steve kept his next words level and sensible. "Stop thinking so hard ... breathe and try to relax. Listen to me, Danny ... can you ditch that damned link?"

"But .. I don't know ... who he... is. Not sure." Danny swallowed hard before he barked out a laugh which ended on a sharp groan for the pain which rattled through his chest. He panted heavily through each word as he argued the fear welling up inside. "He stuck a comm link in my ear ... he's ... Steve ... I don't know."

 _"I see you understand now. You have nothing left,"_ the man taunted quietly. There was laughter in his voice before he pantomimed Steve's words with a rude sneer. _"Can you ditch the link? Really ... so naive. You'll soon know who you're both dealing with! This is gong to be so easy in the end ... too easy. But I daresay, just as satisfying."_

"Danno, I need you to listen to me," Steve coached, teeth gritted to keep his voice quiet even though his temper was blatantly showing. "It's going to be okay. Just breathe, buddy. Nice and slow; try to calm down and relax."

 _"An eye for an eye,"_ the pleased words echoed threateningly into Danny's head before he could respond. _"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."_

"Steve ...," Danny rasped out distractedly, a tingle of fear now growing exponentially as a religious verse was cited to him. He didn't entirely know what it meant, but it clearly indicated one thing. Their time was up.

"He's ... coming."

He shivered uncontrollably and suddenly couldn't stop. Lying on his side in a filthy puddle of stagnant water, Danny began to shiver badly as he squinted though the gloom, just able to make out the hazy outline of Steve's profile. Thankful at least that Steve was standing, albeit chained to a wall, and seemed relatively unscathed except of an occasional hiss of pain. But that certainly wasn't going to last.

"He's coming," Danny whispered brokenly. He was pale and shaking so badly that his voice quavered on the few syllables.

"Danno, please ... you need to calm down," Steve said, his tone clearly communicating a mix of anger and worry as his friend slowly unraveled just a bit more. "One thing at a time, okay? Breathe. Calm down ... it's okay."

"Not okay," Danny's voice was scarcely above a whisper now as his body shook from head to toe. He was cold and maybe even going into shock. He didn't know, but it hardly mattered. "So ... so _not_ okay. He's says ... it's your fault. He says ... I don't know."

He stopped trying to talk then, his energy depleted and all of his remaining attention unwillingly focused on the urgency of the hatred being whispered into his ear. No matter what Steve said, Danny couldn't stop listening.

 _Retribution. Payback_. Whatever the man believed Steve had done to him, he was steadfast in his goal.

_"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."_

He moaned as the verse took over everything else in his head. Scarcely able to breathe, Danny muttered unintelligibly into the floor, his voice shattered by fatigue and pain.

"Danny, ditch the fucking link! Don't listen to him!" Steve hissed as quietly as possible. "Stick with me, buddy. Focus on me!"

With a start, Steve realized then that he could hear the faint shuffling of booted feet on the floor above them. If he listened hard enough, he could hear the sounds of their voices. They were coming closer; the men were coming back. He glowered at the odd sound his partner made as way of reply. As mix of helplessness and sarcasm, it bespoke of physical pain and the trouble they were in. Steve glanced towards the low ceiling, anger crossing his face as he heard the tell-tale sounds directly over their heads now.

Danny didn't answer Steve as a vein of light fell down newly opened door from above. A moment later, three men came down the stairs in rapid succession, the one in the lead sneering at Steve before rounding immediately on the downed Detective. The second positioned himself near Steve, a sly look of satisfaction on his face, his hand on the butt of what looked to be a revolver. Looking on with trepidation, the well-armed third remained nearest the base of the staircase. Fidgeting and undeniably anxious, it was obvious that he no desire to be there.

"Get the hell away from him," Steve warned them.

"And just what are you going to do about it, McGarrett?" Harrison answered back sarcastically as he turned his attention towards Danny.

"Miss me?" Harrison asked the injured man. There was a dangerous glee to his expression as he interlaced his fingers together to give a meaningful crack and pop to his knuckles. He glanced back up towards the staircase and laughed happily when the soft patter of footsteps began their descent. A fourth person was coming.

"I told you to stay away from him," Steve ground out. "Leave him alone ... whoever the hell you all are - you wanted _me_ and you got me. He's had enough."

"Oh don't you worry, McGarrett. We'll be taking care of you next. But right now, the fun's only starting for him," Harrison promised over his shoulder while he chuffed an amused sound. Their eyes met briefly before he crouched down just inches from Danny's side.

"Hey, wake up," Harrison said as he poked Danny hard in the shoulder until Danny managed to focus on his face. Totally ignoring Steve's volley of threats, Harrison hunkered down even closer. "You don't look so good," he said when Danny managed to peer up at him, pain literally emanating from his eyes.

"The boss has something special for you first ... and hell, I can't wait for you to see her."

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I must say that whumping Steve hadn't exactly been in the original cards. But what else would a baddie do to "manage" an irate SEAL?
> 
> Panit is a Thai boy's name which means "beloved". How perfect, right? Pronounced: PHA-nit.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Franklin Ray watched the computer screen with a small smile on his lips. The detective had been very tenacious but now, he was having significant difficulty in staying coherent. He'd give the situation a few more minutes before speaking directly to the injured man again. Already confused, Ray could literally taste the fear growing and that feeling would only worsen once Ray reminded him of certain particulars. It was nearly time to show his hand and reveal his identity.

 _Almost time_ and Ray's indulgent smile completely broke free. He couldn't help lobbing that same secretive whisper one more time into the microphone.

_"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."_

The result of repeating those words was fascinating as the detective literally stilled, all quiet barring the sound of rasped breathing. Well, that and the shouts of the Commander who was insistent that his friend remove the communications link and stop listening. But Ray knew better. Ray _knew_ that the detective would never be able to stop listening because he had to know - he had to hear the sound of his faceless voice regardless of what it might say.

Ray listened too. He was enthralled by the relationship and mesmerized by the detective's emotional state. Strong and resilient at the start, full of an old-fashioned grit, he was now slowly becoming undone as his helplessness was compounded by his injuries. Exhaustion, pain and ... _hopelessness_ ... led to uncertainty and finally fear.

Danny hadn't even laid eyes on him yet; he had no idea who had taken him so many hours earlier or who kept him so tightly under lock and key now. Imagine what might happen once he found out? The thought alone pleased Ray greatly. Well schooled in managing his own discipline though, revealing his identity would come at a very specific time. Certainly not before.

As he bided that time, Ray had watched as Danny's hopes for rescue had died upon the Commander's arrival. He watched now as the detective wilted even more based solely upon a few simple words and fear of the unknown. Having come this far, Ray had little doubt that he quite literally could scare someone to death by fabricating the right circumstances - by resurrecting just the right nightmares.

As he'd stated earlier, the human psyche was indeed a very, very interesting thing.

Franklin Ray knew that his plans couldn't have played out any better than they were at that very moment. He listened, speakers on full volume, as the Five-0 Commander threw all his strength into breaking free. Not to help himself, but to get to his ailing partner. Ray didn't doubt that the ex-SEAL could do some real damage to his men if that ever happened. He was a force to be reckoned with, but Ray had well prepared his small team. In truth, Frank Harrison probably knew even better than he what McGarrett could do if given the chance.

"Rik ...," he said out of an ingrained habit, catching himself before saying Riku as he corrected the name. He covered his self annoyance while apologizing to the handler. "I'm sorry. _Panit_. Harrison will be ready for you in a few minutes; he just needs to take care of a few more things with our guests."

"All right," Panit replied, unperturbed by the man's accidental slip of the tongue since it had happened before. He knew that Riku had been a beloved member of Ray's family; the two had been quite close with a strongly forged bond. An occasional mistake was to be expected.

In fact, Ray had been kind and more than fair to him thus far and an error in name was truly a minor nit which Panit could easily ignore. He had other concerns preying on his mind, anyway. He was still holding the female python and he sighed because her agitation had grown. They were new to each other and she'd not yet learned to trust him at all.

Preferring to hide, her typical passive nature was now fickle; her temper was decidedly borderline from being handled by strange hands and from being moved far too many times. She was also hungry after being kept off her normal diet of rats and smaller rodents; all by design. And Panit knew that she'd soon be highly offended by an introduction to the much cooler and damp basement environment. However, cultivating these negative traits was precisely what Franklin Ray wanted to do.

"She'll be fine," Ray calmly stated when he heard the unhappy sigh. "I'd never do anything to actually harm her ... you know that. This brief interlude will soon be over and you can settle her properly."

"Yes, all right," Panit replied obediently. He hid any other display of annoyance though. He didn't entirely agree with what would happen next to either the snake or the injured man, but he did trust Ray to stop at a point harmful to any one of the snakes. In truth, the elder man was obsessed with their care and well-being. He'd worked hard to re-acquire just the three and then had worked just as hard to find a handler as competent as Panit.

"Take the blanket with you," Ray said. "It will help keep her with him - _longer_." He had rediscovered his grin while watching Frank Harrison have a bit of fun at the Five-0 men's expense. Though he couldn't see very well when Harrison blocked the video feed, he heard the hiss of pain and saw the convulsive twitch which ran thorough the detective's lower body.

 _"You don't look so good."_ Franklin Ray heard through the computer's speakers. Harrison couldn't help taunting the downed Five-0 detective. _"The boss has something special for you first ... and hell, I can't wait for you to see her."_

"Oh, how I enjoy that man," Ray whispered with a chuckle as he watched Frank squat down even closer next to Danny. Only then, did Ray begin to talk again.

 _"This isn't quite like our first meeting. Do you remember that meeting?"_ Ray paused, his nose just inches from the laptop now, he licked his lips in anticipation before adding a certain statement. _"Once upon a time ago, you and I ... met."_

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

"Stay away from him!" Steve bellowed, his eyes wide as two of the men only laughed at him, their sights plainly set on Danny. However, the third was still nearest the base of the staircase and warily eyeing something from above. For some reason, he was nervous and on edge; but Steve didn't have time to wonder why.

"Take me instead ... what the hell do you people want?" Steve shouted as he lost sight of his friend behind Frank Harrison. He was positive that Danny would be yanked to his feet and beaten again. If that happened, wringing his wrists raw, Steve was sure that Danny might not recover. Not this time.

"Leave him alone!" But other than showing amusement, not one of them even spared him a second glance. Once Harrison crouched down to balance on his toes, Steve heard and saw nothing until Danny grunted in pain.

" _Fuck_! Leave him alone!" Steve shouted with another desperate pull on his trapped wrists. But a sense of trepidation flooded his soul. For a moment, Steve stayed silent of his own accord because the man by his partner was unbuttoning Danny's shirt. He was probing the deep bruises and severely mottled skin.

"What the hell ... just what the _hell_ is going on?" Steve snarled dangerously. He watched and ignored the man by him as he warningly stroked the butt of what looked to be a small pistol. He ignored that though - Steve ignored everything except for Danny and what was being done to him. His nostrils flared in anger when he saw the tremor wrack through Danny's body: the comm link was active again.

"If you wanted me from the start … then you've got me! Leave him the hell alone already!" Steve shouted angrily. "Danny ... whatever he's saying ... don't listen!"

 _"This isn't quite like our first meeting. Do you remember that meeting?"_ The voice drawled pleasantly for only Danny to hear as Frank Harrison prodded Danny's shoulder hard enough to jar his ribs. Then he roughly began to unbutton what was left of Danny's shirt. When he was done, Harrison pulled the hem out from where it had stayed partially tucked into Danny's ruined slacks. He opened the material wide, pausing long enough to ogle the brilliant bruising along Danny's abdomen.

 _"D... don' ._.. know ... you," Danny whispered back. He had his eyes wedged shut, helpless to prevent the careless touches which seemed to send splinters of pain through his ribcage. Worse yet, he didn't understand why his shirt had been unbuttoned. His attention was split between the two now, the voice in his ear which promised that they knew each other and the other, a very real person who's bare fingers were pushing into bruises as if to test his pain threshold.

 _"Oh ... but you do,"_ the man chuckled in return. _"You know me very well."_

"Wow, this does look painful," Harrison said conversationally on the heels of Ray's wry comment. "Hurt much? Yeah, I bet it does ... I bet this hurts, doesn't it?"

"Get ... off me," Danny ground out through gritted teeth. With rude fingers, Harrison was daring to probe the damaged skin making Danny feebly cringe away with a garbled cough. His head was throbbing and every little touch or move pinged the rest of his body. He wanted to curl up and just close his eyes as he listened to Steve's ever-increasing volume of threats as he tried to help.

But it was Harrison who finally put an end to the shouting in the background.

"Shut him up." Harrison ordered when he managed to get another hefty rise out of the trapped Commander. It was time to put an end to that as a distraction and he gave the order as smoothly as his easy rise to his feet.

With those three words, the second man closest to Steve whirled around. Before Steve could even understand what might happen, he'd pulled out the small pistol he'd kept tucked to his side. There was a _click-snap_ and Steve grunted in shock as the two probes from the Tazer were discharged directly into his chest. That was the only sound he managed to utter for ten seconds as his body immediately stiffened like a board.

Steve cursed breathlessly when the electrical current ended, the probes still embedded in his skin and their wires trailing back to the weapon. Motor skills gone, his body collapsed. If he hadn't been chained to the bolt, he would have folded in upon himself. In just those few seconds, his wrists were now fully supporting all of his weight until he found the wherewithal to shakily stumble to his feet. He'd been tased before - even for a much longer time in fact. He knew what the weapon could do and he certainly knew what he'd just been taught: the short stun was meant to deliver a warning.

"Leave my partner alone," Steve stated quietly. If the men had known him better, they'd be more concerned about his tone and his sudden, deathly stillness. Eyes murderous, Steve spoke directly to the man standing in front of him, practically daring him to discharge the stun again.

"Keep your damned mouth shut," his attacker replied just as softly.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Steve ground out instead because he certainly didn't understand why Danny's shirt would have been pulled open. The move was strange - too frighteningly different - and Steve was slowly coming unglued himself.

"That should do it," Harrison said, ignoring Steve entirely as he gave a lop-sided grin and motioned down towards Danny. Franklin Ray had made certain next steps quite clear and by this time, when it came to the snakes, Harrison didn't question a single thing. He made an amused sound in his throat while he watched the confusion spread across Danny's face. The detective's eyes were still closed, but he'd registered the oddity of having his shirt virtually torn open despite his injuries. Then as he flinched reactively, Harrison also realized that Franklin Ray was speaking to him.

His novel idea of using a comm link to harass the injured man had been an incredible stroke of utter brilliance.

"Do what? What the hell is going on here," Steve ground out angrily. "What is this? Just who the hell do you work for ... and what the hell does he want?"

"I thought I told you to shut up," Frank Harrison replied blandly. He narrowed his eyes in disgust, his curt nod plenty for the second man to happily discharge another 50,000 volts into Steve for a second time. With a deep groan, Steve felt the electricity go directly into his muscle fibers, causing them to contract uncontrollably. As before, he only stayed upright due to the cuffs. Head thrown back into the wall and standing rigid, Steve sagged down hard after the stun was cut off. This time, he was a bit slower to regain his equilibrium. But Danny had noticed and Steve could hear the faint calls of distress.

"Steve," Danny called out hoarsely. "Steve!" Blurry vision and pounding head aside, he dimly understood what the mechanical noise was and the reason behind his partner's sudden silence. Tazer. _They'd tased Steve to make him quiet._

"Stop." He tried to move, desperate to help and do something. But bound for so long and with bone deep bruises, his limbs refused to listen. "Steve?"

"Oh him? He's a bit preoccupied," Harrison chuckled as he watched each man in their own struggle. Each of the detective's inhales had dwindled to short puffs of air and were almost painfully sporadic. Harrison knew that broken ribs had become a definite issue; something which he cared little about. He only vaguely wondered if the detective might die from his injuries instead of what Ray had in store for him. In all actuality, his real boss, Gibbons, would be quite pleased with how Franklin Ray had managed the entire affair - sometimes the _how_ didn't matter.

"Pleased for sure," Harrison murmured to himself about Gibbons before he sniffed an intrigued noise. Despite being aggressively tased, he watched the Five-0 Commander find his footing, shaky as it was. McGarrett's fury was obvious and he tried to speak, but failed on the first go. Regardless of this impressive show of tenacity though and the detective's weak call to his friend, things were soon to get much more interesting.

It took a disturbing amount of time, but Steve finally answered Danny, his voice tight with pain. "Fine ...Danno. Nothing I haven't ... had to handle ... before," Steve replied in a staccato, breathy tone. "M'good. Just breathe, buddy."

Danny gave a sketchy nod, slightly appeased by the sound of Steve's voice. His exhaustion had increased with the rise in tension. Something was going to happen and he couldn't hide the automatic wince when another voice boomed into his ear. Danny squinted his eyes open and then quickly closed them. He counted to ten and made a wish that everything would be over by the time he opened them again. But it didn't work when the voice in his ear ruined the dismal attempt.

_"He's going to watch you die first ... yes?"_

"No. Why," Danny objected wearily. "No." He was shivering nonstop now and being more exposed to the damp coolness of the basement, he felt even worse. He stammered over his tongue, struggling to make the few words he could think of come intelligibly out of his mouth. "What ... are you ... doing? Why? I don't even know ... know you. I don't ... even know what you really ... want. I don't know you ... I ...'

 _"Oh you think that you don't?"_ The voice queried loudly with a wry laugh. _"I know something better than you though ... I know that when you see my gift ... when you meet her ... you'll certainly remember me."_

"Steve," Danny called out softly, his distress on the rise as he was forced to listen. "Her?"

 _"Ready, Detective?"_ The voice purred dangerously in his ear. _"Are you ready for the first, real test? It might not make sense now ... but it will."_

"Danny, do not engage him. What have I said?" Steve dared to say loudly, risking the back-lash. "Come on, buddy. You can do this."

Danny opened his mouth and then didn't know what he'd bother to say. A fourth person was coming down the staircase. Much more slowly and light of foot, at first he thought it might be a woman. Each step was methodical and oh-so cautious and Danny felt his stomach clench in fear when he saw a man's profile instead. He stupidly had expected a woman and this was a fourth _man_. Something was wrong and it was proven by Steve's instantaneous reaction because he could see more.

"Shit. No." Steve gasped in disbelief from the far wall, his voice sounding hoarse and ragged. He couldn't believe what he was seeing and he fought to focus, his feet barely able to find purchase on the ground in order to stand tall. What he was seeing was completely impossible - it made no sense. It completely explained why the third man was nowhere near his peers.

 _That third man was genuinely afraid_ ... and Steve's adrenalin sky-rocketed before he started to shout again.

"Shit ... Danny. Danno! I swear to _god_ ... stay away from him! What the hell is wrong with you people?! I'm here ...I came like you demanded. Now let him go! What more do you want?" Steve willingly chanced another Tazer blast. He needed to draw attention to himself, no matter how.

"Shut. Him. Up!" The man by Danny ordered as he moved aside for the new arrival and his precious cargo. "If he so much as opens his mouth ... if he so much as utters a single sound ... _remind_ him."

"You have no idea what you're doing," Steve growled out. Chest heaving just before the Tazer was triggered again, Steve glared at the man nearest him. "I"m going to kill each of you - one by one." His wrists were torn and bleeding, his shoulders spasming. He pulled in a deep breath, his tone full of a dire warning as he challenged their attackers.

"What the _hell_ ...?" But he didn't get any farther as he was cut off an instant later, the chords on his neck standing out as electricity flooded his body again. This time the round lasted longer and Steve audibly groaned when the current ended. Muzzy headed, he hung by his wrists, scarcely able to lift his head.

" _Danny_ ," Steve mouthed as he squinted towards the incredible scene unfolding before him.

 _"Ready? Are you ready to meet my latest beloved?"_ Ray asked Danny.

"Be... beloved?" Danny whispered brokenly when the hated voice drowned out everything else. His face creased in confusion, for that simple word coupled with his partner's show of an unlikely fear, sparked something in the back of his brain. What was coming was bad. Worse than that even and Danny felt his heart thud up into his mouth.

" _Yesssss_ ," the voice hissed treacherously into his ear, the sound drawn out with purpose just as Harrison moved aside to make room for the Asian handler.

Danny's eyes locked on what this fourth man held when he came into his line of sight and his vision instantly tunneled; calm, chocolate-brown to his now terrified glassy-blue. At first lost in the depths of the man's too calm expression, Danny fought not to see what he held cradled in his arms. Nonetheless, she was certainly very real.

 _"Do you like her? Do you remember now?"_ The man's voice crooned into his ear. _"Do you? Do you remember me - my Riku - the children you took from me - now? My children which McGarrett ... stole and murdered?"_

"Steve?" Danny rasped out stupidly as a plain, ordinary feeling of absolute fear twisted his gut - he couldn't help himself and it no longer mattered. Too many memories came back in a terrifying flood of a remembered agony.

 _His eyes. The pain and then the blindness._ "Steve!"

 _"St-stop_!" Steve tried to shout out, his effort ending on a _snap-click_ and a ragged choked sound.

Stricken dumb by fear when Steve fell completely silent, Danny was wholly petrified as his breath began to rattle in his chest. He didn't need to see all of what this fourth man held in his arms. Or rather, what slithered almost seductively around tanned wrists and a beautifully tattooed left bicep. But Danny registered all of it anyway. He saw the slender neck and head wending gently through nimble fingers. He lost himself entirely in the odd beauty of the reptile's unique colors when he saw the forked tongue flickering towards him as it scented the air.

_"Do you know now? Do you?"_

Panting off-kilter and uselessly beginning to struggle against his bindings, Danny finally did know as an evil laugh chortled loudly in his ear.

 _Doctor Franklin Ray. Riku Bhandari_. He knew, but Steve didn't know or maybe Steve was so far from considering the likes of Franklin Ray, he simply hadn't come up with the name yet. Then again, he certainly didn't have Danny's perverse benefit of an ongoing drone inside his ear.

Captivated by his own unbridled fear and the oddly patterned lemon-yellow and white scales of the reptile as it was carted closer, Danny was shaking so hard that he never heard Ray's next words. In fact, he couldn't hear a single thing except his own rattling panted breaths of air.

 _" ... through selective breeding, the colors we can engineer now ..."_ the one time doctor thrummed on tirelessly as the Asian literally bent down to untangle the snake's long body from his arms to drape her almost reverently over Danny's legs. When he was finished, he shook out the folded blanket and laid it gently over the two, essentially creating a warm tent within an otherwise inhospitable environment.

Danny could feel the snake burrow deeply into him to seek warmth. Stretched long from his legs to just over his belly, she began to move almost immediately. Trembling badly, he closed his eyes as the snake's scales began to roam over his skin. He didn't know if not being able to see her was better or worse. Either way, he couldn't possibly be expected to cope.

"Get ... off," he thickly slurred. His mouth was gummy and dry, his tongue nearly refusing to work now. "Please ... don't do this. Please ... take it ... away." Danny cringed when he felt scales slide across his sternum. She was moving higher, her lower length still long over his legs. His breath hitched painfully in the back of his throat with every subtle sensation. Even with his arms bound in front of him, he didn't dare try to move. What would he do anyway?

As she moved across chest and touched the base of his throat, he suddenly forgot how to breathe properly and oxygen seemed like it had became a premium. His vision twinkled warningly and he couldn't see Steve - worse yet, he still couldn't hear him at all.

Danny's entire world narrowed to his immediate space and the terror slowly sliding across the skin of his chest, now his neck.

 _Seeking. Exploring. Tasting._ His reality became the python and the sinister voice of Doctor Franklin Ray who continually crooned into his ear.

_" ... she's lovely. Isn't she simply lovely, Detective?"_

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	6. Chapter 6

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Still virtually hanging by his wrists, Steve blinked through a grayish haze. At first he couldn't even remember the last few seconds of time - or it might even have been minutes. With no way of knowing, he gazed stupidly at the man in front of him before lazily bobbing his head towards where Danny lay. The last jolt from the Tazer had left his brain sluggish, his neck rubbery and uncooperative. Steve frowned, confused but on guard as he tried to remember and focus his thoughts.

"What .. the hell happened?" Steve rasped, his throat inexplicably dry. As way of reply though, the man holding the Taser merely shrugged. With a queer smile on his lips, he didn't say a word. Instead he let his eyes fall on the Asian handler's back and then beyond to Danny's blanket-wrapped, trembling body.

 _Blanket_? Steve blinked again. Utterly confused and completely uncertain as to what he'd missed. But he certainly could hear the tension: Danny's breathing was harsh. Loud and abnormal, it was practically the only sound in the room except for a litany of broken pleas for help.

 _Shit_. He remembered the snake then and realized that the damned reptile was under the blanket. He cursed again, in a fury that the voltage had left him so badly disoriented and he felt his desperation growing in getting to his downed partner.

"What ... what's going on? What did you do" He asked as he hacked through the dryness in his throat and forced his knees to lock. Trembling from the after-effects, Steve shook his head to clear the vestiges of vertigo, his attention now completely on his partner and the choked quality of his every breath. "Danno?"

" _St...s ...teve_? Make him ... take ... it ... away ... please," Danny begged, the pulse-beat in his neck visible as panic set in when the slender man simply stood, stared at him without saying a single word and then quite inconceivably ... walked away.

"Where's he going? Get that damned thing off him!" Steve demanded as he quickly caught up, his voice suddenly stronger. Even from where he was, he could see the snake moving under the blanket. He looked to each man and then stared up the staircase at the handler's retreating back. No one was speaking; not a soul except for Danny who seemed unable to catch his breath, a painful hitch obvious within every discordant inhale.

"God dammit! Why are you doing this!?" Steve shouted helplessly. "Danny, Danny! Try to stay calm ... try to control your breathing." He pulled hard on the cuffs, the iron eye-bolt creaking as grayish soot of rock-dust fell. He grinned triumphantly at the man holding the Tazer when he glanced up, surprised and honestly taken-back to see the heavy iron had actually loosened a few good inches inside the wall.

"Five minutes," Steve drawled dangerously. "Just give me five minutes with you and you won't know what the hell hit you. Get that damned thing off my partner. Now!"

"Don't .. leave," Danny whispered when the Asian disappeared from sight. Unable to put a stop to body-wide tremors, he closed his eyes in utter denial. He couldn't do this. There was no way that he could deal with the snake as she began a further investigation of his body. He tried to breathe slowly and then completely failed. He jolted at the shock of the slide of her scales as part of her long body looped down over his lower back.

She was so big. Long ... and muscular. He could literally feel her power as she enveloped his body, front to back.

It made sense now: why Ray's henchman had so gleefully unbuttoned his shirt to move it aside. It gave the python better access to wend her way under the material, affording almost constant access to the warmth of his skin.

" _Nnn_...no,' he groaned in fear as he suddenly felt the python's tongue flicker under his chin. She was on the move and her head was near his face. His breath stutter-stopped and his tremors increased while he wedged his eyes even more tightly closed. She was carefully investigating every part of him, the cool slick of her scales eerie and causing a stomach-churning level of distress. Bound as they were, Danny's hands were balled fists, his thoughts only of being sprayed in the face by venom.

 _Blinded. Wracked with pain._ On a thin whine, he pleaded senselessly to anyone who might still be standing nearby. "Get ... him. Bring ... him back. Please ... get him." He shuddered when Ray's voice came to him through the comm link instead. Steady, calm but with a distinct tone of sarcasm, the man sounded bored by Danny's reaction. He certainly didn't offer a single word of which Danny wished to hear or listen to.

 _"She's a ball python ... completely harmless to humans,"_ Ray explained with a proud lilt to his tone, his last words ending on a pleased laugh of sorts. _"But I see ...you don't quite care. Do you? Are you even listening to me? Detective? Can you hear me?"_

 _Ray was a liar. A murderer. A sociopath._ Danny had no reason to believe a single thing the man said. Unable to answer, Danny heaved in a strangled tendril of air as the four foot python continued to move, her dislike of the cold, damp cellar obvious as she investigated his chest again, moving higher up the rise of his clavicle, briefly pausing when she stayed even with his throat. He felt the flick of her tongue constantly as she paused, evidently resting ... or waiting ... or God help him, readying to strike.

"Please ... get it ... off me," Danny choked out. Harrison had moved back to stand over him, avidly watching the outline of the snake's body under the blanket. He could easily tell where her head was and he had to laugh when it eased out from under the blanket as if verifying daylight. Her tongue flickered, just in line with the detective's jaw as she scented his body, no doubt tasting his fear, smelling the fresh blood, and confused by the too many acrid smells in the dank lower level. She paused for a long period of time, her head elevating higher in order to survey the petrified man's face as if considering what to do next.

Completely unable to help himself, Danny forced his eyes partially opened when he felt the change. Stunned, he literally stopped breathing when he saw her ruby-red eyes so so close before her trek resumed, her head dropping to ease back under the blanket and then, beneath the gaping material of his shirt, slowly and with purpose.

"Oh, God ... get ... it this thing ... off me," Danny begged brokenly. He found Harrison's eyes now, his terrified plea broadcasted directly upwards.

"Ha, he was right," Harrison chortled out loud. He ignored Danny completely, captivated as the python sought warmth to avoid the chill around her. He glanced over his shoulder to his two peers and laughed incredulously while pointing towards the blanket where her outline was easily seen. Only then did he acknowledge Danny, once more crouching down to balance on his toes while daring to stroke the slithering bulge under the blanket.

Narrowing his eyes, Harrison's voice turned to ice. "She's looking to get warm ... I bet that's a bit weird though. Eh, Detective?"

"You son of a bitch," Steve cursed. "Why are you doing this? Who are you working for - it's sure as hell not Gibbons! So, who is it!?"

Danny focused on the sound of Steve's voice as he tried to tune everything else out. It was virtually impossible though as the snake shifted again. She seemed to move reactively to his smallest fidget and objected Harrison's hand, but damned if he had a hope in hell of controlling his spasming muscles. His entire body felt as if it were shaking with a palsy. His chest was on fire, made worse by fear and the simple weight of the creature who'd managed to drape herself just right over his most injured mid-section.

Eyes partly opened, Danny fought to hang on and keep his body quiet in order to just breathe. He was beginning to hyperventilate though. Much like his claustrophobic reaction to small spaces, his body was taking over to do the same from an inflicted terror. Already short of breath due to injury, his throat was closing up and he was losing what little normal flow of breathing he had to a full scale panic attack.

"Steve," Danny choked out and then coughed, rattling himself painfully. The blanket made him feel as if he were being smothered, the snake's weight a miserable reminder of his predicament which kept the evil cycle ever worsening. Scarcely able to breathe now, his vision dimmed dangerously around the edges, a gray aura creating a frightful milky haze. Dizziness brought on a wave of being removed from the here and now, and Danny blinked as the room swam in front of his eyes. Steve's voice tunneled, as did the drone of Franklin Ray inside his head, and he closed his eyes. Sick and nauseous, he felt the cold sheen of sweat coating his skin and only vaguely wondered what the python might think of that change.

" _Sick_ ," he mouthed weakly, his eyes winking back open to finally settle on a spot just in front of his nose. He tried to just listen to Steve's voice. But he could also hear the anger and then the ferocity of the warnings which their captors flung back his way. Danny knew they'd tase him again; Steve certainly knew it as well. Nonetheless, Steve was pushing and testing their limits in a vain attempt to find an escape.

"Don't. Steve ... don't," Danny whispered as the shouting escalated into a crescendo which lacked words. But then, he saw the sparkle of glass again - his jagged piece of glass which he'd lost at some point. He scowled not remembering when he'd accidentally dropped it but he needed to have it back. Terror pushed him forward then, fueled by a short-term flux of adrenalin which Danny would never be able to sustain. Ever so slowly, Danny shifted more to his side so that he could move his bound hands a few inches from underneath the hem of the blanket. He painstakingly scrabbled his fingers towards the glitter which seemed both close and yet much too far away, the python displeased but not yet interfering. And a moment later, Danny was incredibly rubbing the sharp edges with his thumbs.

"Who the hell are you people?" Steve growled out. If Danny had been having trouble before, he was nearing a dangerous point of no return now. Steve knew his partner. He knew the stages which Danny might go through at any given time - the initial self control, the inevitable slip towards a sarcastic mouthiness before losing his temper completely and lashing out. After, there could be a round robin of remorse, misgivings and doubt ... but not this. What Steve was seeing with his own two eyes was completely different; its foundation built out of one terrifying past experience.

The lack of interaction and the utter weakness meant that that Danny was well beyond his usual thresholds. _Danny was shutting down_ and Steve was without doubt, growing more and more ... _scared_.

"What do you even want? Get that thing away from him! He's hurt and he can't breathe ..." Steve argued as Danny lay shuddering on the ground. "You're going to kill him!"

"Kill him? That would be the point," Harrison laughed in return. "And you ... you get to watch before it's your turn, McGarrett."

"Why?" Steve asked. He was shaking too, but that was only an indication of his anger. However, as he tore uselessly at the cuffs around his wrists, he still had no options to leverage. In truth, he still had no idea who had managed to get Gibbons on board to such a plan. "Who's doing this? Who do you really work for?"

 _He didn't know. Steve still didn't have a clue_ and Danny might have laughed at any other time. The realization had been excruciatingly slow to come and with a sudden spark of clarity as he hung on to the sound of Steve's voice, Danny realized that his friend totally didn't know who was behind their attack even though the proof was literally slithering over his own skin.

"Steve ... it's Ray," Danny choked out hoarsely, his voice weak and distant. "Franklin ... Ray," he repeated to make sure that he might be heard. Trembling from fear, Danny's head fell back to the concrete floor with a soft thump. Done, his energy officially depleted, he had nothing left.

"Steve. It's ... Franklin Ray. It's ... Ray," he whispered one last time before his voice completely failed hiim. Closing his eyes, Danny's focus changed to the simple act of trying to breathe.

"What? Franklin Ray?" Steve questioned as Harrison smiled happily, his agreeable nod enough to spark another surge of Steve's temper. To him, it still lacked credence because Angelo Gibbons simply didn't work with anyone. He didn't understand, but that hardly mattered now. But Danny missed the stunned expression which flew across Steve's face when he realized then who had been talking to his partner the entire time. Heart thudding off-kilter, Danny missed the volley of words and threats exchanged for the whisper of words inside his ear.

"He doesn't deserve this!" Steve shouted. He was stunned by the news - almost embarrassed that he'd not considered the former doctor at first sight of the python.

"Get that damned thing off him and let him go," Steve demanded as he shook his head in both anger and denial. Danny had been used for Franklin Ray to execute a terrible plan to get him. But this? No. It wasn't right and it certainly wasn't fair.

For one, long agonizing minute, Steve thought that he couldn't breathe either. His attempt at finding a calm was obvious as he stared directly into Harrison's face. "He was a victim then ... and he's one now. You said this was my fault ...Ray said this was because of me ... so why this? What the hell are you doing?"

"That's for him to explain," Harrison noted much too blandly. "I don't owe you any explanations. In fact, it's time for you to shut your damned mouth!"

" _Now we all know,_ " Ray laughed to Danny as he listened to Steve through the link and heard Harrison's smart reply. Things were progressing even better than he'd wanted and Harrison had been quite the godsend. He'd have to remember to thank Gibbons personally.

_"We all know, Detective ... and isn't a fine day for retribution ... for payback?"_

" _No_ ," Danny silently mouthed while he listened to the timbre of Steve's voice rise one last time in his defense. A moment later, his words were cut off without preamble though and Danny shuddered in response as to the reason why.

_"... are you with me Detective? Isn't she lovely?"_

Without Steve to buoy him, Danny finally closed his mind to Ray's voice. He fought to breathe and to keep still as a low, plaintive whine caught in his throat. It seemed as if the python's entire length was directly against his skin now, her weight exacerbating his injuries. Without his partner, the snake's constant weight was the only thing which existed in his immediate reality. He could feel every scale as she slowly disappeared beneath his shirt, seeking warmth. He could feel the ticklish flick of her tongue as she tasted him and he trembled more, wondering what she'd do as her head progressed and most of her body glided behind on a circuitous path over his injured ribs, towards to his back, finally wedging herself between his shoulder blades.

 _"She's ... cold ... and you're warm,"_ Ray happily goaded him more, rightly assuming that his words only served to terrify Danny to new heights. _"So warm ... keep her safe for me ... just for awhile. There's more ... so much more I'd like to show to you listening to me, Detective? I hope you are ... you need to listen. McGarrett is next ... this is entirely his doing ... his fault and now he'll pay."_

Unable to think, Danny moaned deeply in his throat as a cold sheen beaded his forehead and pooled at the base of his throat. His first meeting with Ray hadn't been much of one at all; but he had met the psychotic man's beloved children. One in particular that had nearly killed him before taking his sight. Danny remembered all too well what Doctor Franklin Ray excelled in doing. He knew the man's perversion to cause pain and watch death. The nightmares both before - _and then after_ \- had persisted for months.

"Help me," Danny senselessly pleaded to no one at all, his eyes wedged shut as the python failed at finding room for all its ample length along his back. Almost as an afterthought, she partly reversed direction, her lower half moving to slowly anchor a coil or two of her tail around his left forearm so she could remain draped more comfortably. He grimaced unhappily as her grip undulated to an almost painful level, rivulets of sweat tracing the side of his face now as she tucked herself into him to leech all the warmth she could from his body.

_He couldn't do this. There was no way he could last._

So distraught by the vise-like grip on his arm and paralyzed by the terrifying tingle of a flickering tongue, Danny never heard the final struggle as Steve was tased into semi-consciousness and torn away for him. Nor could he hope to ever understand the sly drawl of Doctor Franklin Ray as he explained and tutored his unlucky victim before finally ending their one-sided conversation. He completely forgot his mantra to stay awake as his heart thundered in his chest and he began to truly hyperventilate, his breathing irregular and panic now a given.

Curling and wrapping herself in the folds of his shirt, scenting the freshness of his wounds, and tucking herself anywhere she could so that she'd be warm under the blanket, the python settled most of her mid-length around Danny's stomach. Her upper half draped over his side where she rested her head nearest his shoulder blades. As was her nature, her tongue ceaselessly taste-tested what she could of the inhospitable world around her. She eventually subsided to a degree, oblivious to anything more than seeking warmth within her disturbing environment.

She quieted, but she was distinctly displeased by the erratic movements of her warm roost and so, quite far from being able to find her more normal placidity. Uncaring of what she was doing to her one source of poor comfort, Danny was completely alone when he lost consciousness to the frightening touch of scales as they rippled across his skin.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	7. Chapter 7

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

It was the noise which woke him. Discordant sound. And at first, he couldn't tell where it was coming from until he realized he was hearing it all through the communications link. A white rush of static which should have been words. But the words were rendered unintelligible by either his own aching head or too many voices speaking at once.

Loud, soft, broken. A jumbled mix of nothing. Danny didn't understand and yet it didn't actually matter because the tone of all of it was angry ... dangerous.

"St ... Steve?" Danny croaked dryly, eyes closed and trembling when he got no answer. He was alone. Franklin Ray had taken him as promised.

Franklin Ray. The snake. Danny groaned deeply in his throat, eyes wedged as tightly closed as humanly possible, praying that none of it had truly happened. _The snake._ He wanted it to be a lie but he was forced to remember everything when the pressure around his arm shifted in an unnatural way. A ripple undulated uncomfortably from wrist to elbow and he nearly gagged in fear as there was a momentary disruption to the blood supply of his hand.

He literally wanted to curl up and die. Besides hurting inside and out, there was a very real snake tucked up around him and, trapped where he lay, Danny simply didn't know what to do.

But a loud scuffle, followed by the sound of a heavy thud resonating from overhead, shook him from head to toe. He not only felt it, he heard the stereophonic echo through both his free ear and the one subjected to the comm link. Danny's shuddered reaction was instantly an annoyance to the semi-somnolent python though and his attention shifted quickly as he tried to quiet his spastic muscle tremors. It moved and tightened its grip on his arm, but a moment later happily quieted once more. Breathing carefully and stifling his desperate need to cough, Danny still failed at hiding a moan riddled with fear.

 _He couldn't do this. He couldn't cope._ Yet, he had to.

Something big had fallen or been dropped to the floor. As he listened, the sounds of too many voices increased in intensity and Danny knew what that thud had been - certainly it hadn't been _something_ \- it was more like _someone_ had fallen... _someone_ like Steve.

The voices were forever in his ear and yet he still couldn't understand a single word being said, so he sought to single out tone and timbre. Almost shaking in relief when he won that not so small battle, Danny finally heard the muffled sound of Steve's voice. The pitch was far away and faint. But Steve's voice was there - rising and falling along with the others.

Refusing to open his eyes as he focused on that one bit of sanity which thrummed occasionally into his ear, Danny's shaking fingers began to methodically rub the shard of glass he'd managed to retrieve. He didn't know what he'd do yet once he got free, but if he succeeded, he'd worry about that next step then. Brow furrowed in pain and concentration, he thumbed the sharp edges of the glass to find that special side. With utmost care and working blindly, Danny began to stubbornly slice at the zip ties encircling his wrists again.

He stopped and started often, sweat making his fingers slip and further mangling the skin of his left palm. His fear spiked every time the python shifted in objection to his movements, his imagination working in spades against him, only one special sound in his ear spurring him on to continue. Impeded by the pressure encasing his left arm, Danny thought he'd fail regardless. There was a terrible negative devil on his shoulder shouting at him with each short swipe of the jagged glass.

Danny was justifiably terrified. He doubted himself and pushed on anyway, his surprised gasp audible when scarcely a minute later, there was a snick and his right hand parted from his left. He had more to do. He had so much more to conquer and all of it seemed insurmountable. The zip ties around his ankles had to be next, but even the tiniest shifting of his knees left him breathless and panting in agony ... and then freezing in fear as the reptile lifted her head from where it had been resting.

 _"Fuck, fuck, fuck,"_ Danny whimpered under his breath knowing now, that in this terrible reality, it wasn't his ankles but the snake which had to come next. Too afraid to touch it, his brain supplied the only remaining answer - the warmth of the blanket had to go. And with that, just maybe the snake would follow.

Steeling himself for the reptile's pending reaction, Danny dug the fingers of his right hand into the blanket and began to tug it from his shoulders. He winced in fear as each fold of material created a corresponding reaction in the rippling muscles wrapped around his arm or draped over his hip. Soon every part of the snake's long length seemed to be in motion and Danny was nearly hyperventilating once more.

"Please," he moaned brokenly as the coils tightened warningly around his left arm. There was little doubt that the snake completely disapproved of the loss of its protective, dark nest as its entire upper body began to writhe nearest his shoulders. Even with his eyes still wedged tightly shut, Danny could sense the anger growing.

The female python had been warm and mostly comfortable. Quiet and sleepy. Grievously disturbed as her sad little nest began to evaporate, she fought to recover warmth and found it woefully limited.

" _Please_ ," Danny mouthed as he tugged harder, balling the fabric away from his hips and then the rest of his body. It got stuck in places, then refused to budge in others. "Come on ... come on ... _please_ ," he begged himself and then even the snake when it slithered alarmingly over his chest. Desperate as the flick of a tongue caressed his bicep, Danny continued on, his own breathing suddenly much too loud and raspy.

Winded by his efforts and feeling faint, Danny didn't think he could do any more. He was barely able to do his level best in ignoring the snake's increasing agitation as he finally pushed the blanket as far away as possible. But he needed to as a faint snap-click echoed through to his one ear. He lost the timbre of Steve's voice almost instantly and felt his stomach plummet down to his toes.

He had to do more ... he had to get out.

Panting and shivering from a sorry mixture of pain and fright, Danny forced his eyes partly opened, appalled to see the rise of the serpent's head virtually hovering over his own.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Franklin Ray sat back comfortably in his chair as Steve was dragged, hands brutally cuffed behind the small of his back, up from the depths of the old den between Harrison and the braver of the other two men. The third trailed the small entourage, his distaste for what was still to come, blatantly showing in his expression. With a small chuffed sound of disgust as he re-evaluated a certain choice in hired men, Ray glanced over to Panit to see if the Asian had noticed. But as seemed his usual stance, Panit's face was impassive and virtually unreadable. With a glimmer of remorse, Ray found himself wishing it were Riku by his side.

"Why don't you watch the front, Louis," Ray ordered when the third stopped just shy of needing to be too close to the tanks. Based on nerves alone, he'd be of no help with what would come next and Ray simply couldn't afford the risk he'd bring along with him. Anyone on edge and as nervous as Louis Small would create a situation - cause an accident - which Ray would have to manage. That risk was unnecessary when he had other, steadier options under his employ. With a glance towards the reliable Frank Harrison, Ray wished he had a hundred like that man instead.

"I doubt we'll have any trouble; but to be sure, keep an eye on the perimeter," Ray repeated to Louis. His impatience was palpable now that he had McGarrett. Ray was more than ready to put an end to what he'd come to do.

"Yeah, sure," Louis replied with no small amount of relief. "No problem ... I'll keep an eye on the outside." He knew he'd annoyed Ray, but was helpless to tamp down his own trepidation over the reptiles. Nervous and fidgety, he had zero interest in being near the snakes from the very beginning, even if the next steps Ray had planned out had nothing to do with him per se. Given leave, he disappeared without word of apology.

"What the hell's ... going on?" Steve managed to get out over a leaden tongue. The man behind the Tazer was clearly enjoying himself. Steve knew that the lithium power magazine could supply over fifty 30-second hits and it felt as if he planned to get his money's worth.

Hardly able to focus on the hazy silhouette behind the desk, Steve squeezed his eyes closed against the bright light of the study and the wave of dizziness he was experiencing. With an effort, he focused on listening to a short exchange before trying to take another limited stock of his surroundings. Even bleary-eyed, he immediately began to count heads and maximize his options for escape. It was a chore though. His chest was tight and, quivering muscles aside, it was taking him some time to regain his full mental equilibrium. His fourth, fifth or even sixth tasing within such a short span of time was genuinely wreaking havoc on his senses. Still, Steve tried to put up a fight and resist as Frank Harrison tried to force him to his knees. Their scuffle was impressive despite Steve's handicaps and another threat of being tased. Just before going down, Steve gave Harrison a need to parry against a few of his own well placed kicks.

"Get the fuck down!" Harrison shouted when one booted foot connected solidly with his thigh bone. He yelped in pain and then cursed loudly as his leg nearly gave out. His reaction was swift though and timed to the millisecond of his peer sending another discharge of the taser into Steve's body.

Unable to protect himself, Steve went down to his knees like a felled tree. The resulting crash was loud in the sparse room, the shock of bone to hardwood floor, sending a solid repercussion through to his hips.

"Cross 'em. Do it," Harrison snarled as he kicked Steve's shins repeatedly, forcing him to finally wrap one ankle over the other. "Cross 'em!" Steve rocked in place off balance, dazed and aching, but his unfocused gaze still murderous when he lifted his head towards where Ray was sitting.

Ray watched in total satisfaction as only his men's firm grips kept the Commander somewhat upright as he wavered, hardly able to balance on his knees. After almost two years of waiting, the time had come and he was finally going to have his comeuppance.

"Commander McGarrett," Ray purred nastily. "So nice to see you. Again."

"Ray," Steve pushed out though clenched teeth. He paused when he saw the small array of glass tanks. Two were occupied with snakes. The third was empty and Steve inwardly flinched knowing where that third currently was and its role in terrifying his partner. With an effort, he forced his voice to adopt an even keel. "Can't say the same. Where's my partner? Did you leave him down there with that thing?"

"What do you think?" Ray scoffed. "Of course. They're quite happily keeping each other company. And what does it matter? Detective Williams is done ... finished ... his part in my plans is over. Now, it's all about you and me, and what you did to my children."

"Your children?" Steve reiterated, his voice deadly in its monotone. "Fine. That's fine, Ray. You got me ... I'm here. Now, let my partner go and let's do this the right way. Just me and you."

Steve's heart clenched in silence when Franklin Ray's mouth broke into a wide, incredulous smile. The change in demeanor was startling and Steve couldn't help the sharp intake of breath. He suddenly didn't know how long he'd been away from Danny. All of a sudden, he really didn't know anything.

"Let him go? But, he's dead, Commander. Or, at least ... nearly dead," Ray stated calmly, his eyes raking almost viciously over McGarrett's face, drinking in the expressive look of shock, horror and grief. "Nearly ... because, he soon will be. There's no help for either one of you."

With that announcement, Ray turned his laptop screen so the Five-0 Commander could see the former den - and proof of his claim. Nothing else was said as the man stared in numb silence at the dim image, stunned at the sight of his partner.

"What the hell have you done?" Steve whispered. "What did you do?"

"I did precisely what I set out to do," Ray replied with a sneer. "Scare him to death." The smile was gone now, the hatred back on full display as he stood up from behind his desk. "You should know by now that I always complete what I set out to do. It may take time and perhaps a healthy bit of ingenuity, but I _always_ get what I want in the end."

"Do you," Steve murmured distractedly. He was sick inside as he continued to stare at Danny's image. Shown from above, he could see the blanket covered body and the outline of what was likely the snake hiding underneath. Only Danny's head was really visible, but it was turned away and Steve could only see the lighter shock of blonde hair, mussed and slick with sweat. For all intents, Ray was right - his partner was dead.

"I'm done talking to you," Ray said as he slammed the laptop closed. "This is about retribution for what you took from me. Retribution for what you ordered done to my children! Once I take care of you ... then I'm done. Life will go on ... _my_ life will be restored and have purpose again."

"You're completely insane," Steve snarled when his view of Danny was terminated. His eyes snapped up, meeting Ray's purposeful expression. Steve was fighting his heart against his head after seeing the lifeless shape. There was still some hope though and he forged on, allowing his anger to fully take over.

"You'll never be done. You're a liar. You'll never be done because you can't help it," Steve said in a fury. Behind his back, his hands were tightly fisted and aching for action. "And as for value, Ray? You're a sociopath ... a murderer. You claim what you do is science ... to heal and to save ... but you're nothing more than a killer. You have no purpose ... none at all."

Steve heaved in a big breath of air, knowing he'd be tased again soon. Knowing that Ray was going to kill him much the same as his other victims - as Danny had just been left alone to die in a dank, dark basement.

But this time, rather than Ray, Steve sought out the snake handler to stare directly into his face. The ripple of shock was unmistakable as attention turned the Asian's way.

"You just possibly killed an innocent man. Just _now_ ... you killed him," Steve stated accusingly. "You're responsible. Did you ever think of that?" His voice fell to a lower octave, the emotion making each word a struggle. He glanced once towards Ray before settling back on the uneasy handler.

"My partner ... _Danny_ had nothing to do with this. Absolutely nothing. He was a victim before ... and he's a victim now."

"Harrison. Pick a tank," Ray interrupted fiercely. "I don't care which ... both are lethal." He moved quickly from behind his desk to stand almost protectively in front of the now very startled Panit while glaring down at Steve. "Let's finish this."

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> NOTES: tiny snake lesson: Fang Marks: Fang marks may be present as one or more well defined punctures, as a series of small lacerations or scratches, or there may not be any noticeable or obvious markings where the bite occurred. The absence of fang marks does not preclude the possibility of a bite. In general, the fang marks from a Krait are made from a quick, snapping motion. Multiple bites inflicted by a single snake or by more than one snake are also possible, and should be noted if present. The presence of fang marks does not always imply that the injection or deposition of venom into the bite wound (envenomation) actually occurred.
> 
> I know this isn't what some expected - Steve being bitten and all. Frankly, I didn't either - then again, the original version was 5 chapters and better matched Swifters' birthday wish list. Umm ... so, yeah. You can all see how THAT request went! Regardless, I hope the story still delivers (Happy Much Belated Birthday, Swifters!) and is fun for all to read though!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

He realized his mistake almost immediately: whether to protect his face or try to wrap the snake inside it, he needed the blanket back. His fingers scrabbled for purchase on the hem, but he couldn't quite snag it in time. He was moving too much now and the snake was becoming more and more unhinged.

Danny's breathing took on a sharp whine, each shallow exhale punctuated by a wheeze. He was completely unable to take his eyes off the snake's angrier ruby red eyes. Truly an impossibility too, because technically, the reptile's eyes didn't actually show emotion, but Danny knew it was incredibly angry.

Maybe he innately knew the s-shaped kinked curve of its neck communicated the sentiment better than its eyes. Or maybe, it was the way it seemed to tighten its hold around his left arm like some sort of tree-like anchor as it elevated more of it's upper body from his own. No matter what told him though, he knew that the python was readying to strike.

With only one terrible memory to draw upon, he slammed his eyes closed and drew on the only thing he had left - his fear. Muscles screaming in protest, Danny threw his right arm over his face while lurching wildly onto his side. The python struck at the same time, sinking her fangs into the underside of his right bicep. She didn't bite and let go though. Instead, she clamped down and hung on for three solid, tenacious spasmings of her strong jaws ... and Danny screamed.

He wanted it off but had inadvertently rolled onto his left side, trapping it. Part of the python was now wedged between his body and the cold concrete floor. He could feel the strength of its body rippling against his skin as it reacted to a complete change in its environment. It released his arm in order to free itself and regain an advantage. It released him in order to get away, but Danny could only think of one thing: _it had bitten him_ ... and ... _he was definitely going to die now._

Danny mewled in absolute terror from the throbbing agony of his newest wound which seemed to suddenly trump all of his other aches and pains. Wild in his terror, he began to pull himself along the floor using his elbows. He only could think of one way out and that was towards the base of the staircase. He could almost feel the snake at his heels as he argued each labored breath into his lungs. Unwilling to stop to free his ankles, he made the first wooden step his goal and kept going never registering the fact that the snake was gone. In his mind's eye, she was still attached to him or just mere inches away and preparing to strike again. He only faintly heard the severe flux of noise from upstairs. The shouts and the obvious sounds of a violent fight which ended on a multitude of gunshots were far away but only served to add to his distressful feeling of helplessness.

Part of him was desperate to do more, envisioning himself breaking the ties around his ankles as he made it up each wooden step. _Helping Steve._ Putting an end to Ray's horror spree. That tiny part of him fought hard but lost to his own injuries, one bruised and bloody hand falling just shy of the first worn plank. Danny lost imagining the snake a mere hands-breadth away, just waiting and watching.

But in her own desperate measure to escape, not only him, but the wet of brackish puddles of water, the yellow ball python was heading in a completely opposite direction.

Just as distressed and only wanting to hide, the snake didn't want to be anywhere near _him_ either.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Bent double over Franklin Ray's desk, Steve feigned semi-consciousness as his right hand was literally fed into the krait's tank. The tank had been turned on its side and Ray was toying with the snake as it tried to slither out and away. Using professional tongs, Ray was gently teasing the snake back into the tank, provoking it by denying it freedom so that it would eventually attack.

After having been tased yet again, Steve lay bonelessly across the desk as if finally beaten. In reality, his eyes were slightly opened and he was avidly listening and cataloging every person's location in the room. The snake was there too of course, how could it not be as scales slid over his hand? But the reptile was most definitely an after-thought. The snake was scarcely on Steve's radar except as a possible weapon even when it slithered disturbingly through his lax fingers and scented his wrist.

Although he would soon act, Steve did have to garner his reserves. He took the time to store them up and then ready himself for just the right moment. He had to fight his body's preferences to shut down though. To turn off and just plain quit. So he bided his time, watching and waiting, completely allowing his entire arm to remain limp, while feigning a believable degree of absolute weakness until he was ready.

Then, the explosion would be astronomical. Steve would strike the millisecond the second man loosened his grip on the arm he'd wedged viciously behind his back to peer over Steve's bunched shoulder. Already more than fascinated by the krait and its looming attack on its victim, Steve could feel the hold losing its security.

They assumed that he - Steve - was merely semi-conscious and at a total disadvantage. Smug, Steve built on the ruse.

Someone _spoke_. Admiration in the tone.

Ray _chuckled_ in anticipation and Harrison _leaned in_ for a better view.

The Asian handler remained steadfast and removed from the immediate tableau, _silent_ by the window. While Steve might have been the main attraction, they were all very much distracted.

Eyes narrowed angrily as he remained absolutely pliable, Steve registered all of it within the span of a heartbeat. This was the best opportunity he would ever have and he spun hard, the swiftness of his move literally ripping the tiny fish-hook like Tazer probes out of his skin. He immediately regained the use of his trapped hand as he viciously kicked out to catch the man directly in the chest and then to the side of the knee. His hand in the tank moved by reflex, catching the heavy glass before slamming into the agitated krait which simultaneously struck out in its own defense. There was a quick stinging sensation on Steve's wrist - much like the sting of a hornet and he knew he'd been bitten, but kept going without hesitating.

Steve's fingers closed around the slender body of the krait as the tank slid dangerously across the slick of the desk and then crashed to the hardwood floor. He had no time to worry about the fang mark sunken into his wrist as the man who had once been behind him stumbled backwards. The audible crack of bone preceded a wide-eyed gurgle of sound as his kneecap was shattered seconds after his chest had been caved in. Cataloged as no longer a threat and likely dying on the spot, Steve didn't hesitate to turn on Harrison next.

"Hey!" Steve shouted. "Catch!" With a sinister grin of his own, Steve flung the snake directly into Frank Harrison's stunned face. Fingers splayed, Harrison screamed in surprise as he accidentally caught the krait. He floundered and bumbled the snake close to his chest not knowing which way was up or down before realizing that he could - and likely should - just drop the venomous creature.

Steve would have laughed at the man's nearly comic reaction if not for a similar drawn-out and very terrified cry from below and he mentally stumbled.

 _Danny_.

 _Faster_. He needed to finish them all off ... _faster_. Quite literally stepping over the fallen snake, Steve advanced nastily on Harrison who's attention had been completely diverted. Ignorant of what was coming, Harrison was babbling nonsense as he frantically examined himself for fang marks. He never saw Steve let alone the rock hard fist that cracked his jaw like glass. His head shot backwards, eyes rolling blindly towards the ceiling. Even as his knees buckled, Steve had yanked the man's gun from his waist and with one last vicious pistol-whip, had added an insulting bone-fracturing blow to the side of Harrison's skull.

Franklin Ray was already on the move as Steve whirled towards him next. Unarmed and no longer protected by his men, he tried to run but go no farther than the study's ornate double doors. Steve hardly needed to sight the weapon on the man's back. Years of training provided everything he needed to shoot by rote. With two bullets leveled solidly into his back, Ray was dead before he hit the floor.

Never having had time to react, Panit stood ramrod straight, eyes wide in shock. He wanted to melt into the very wall behind him as the Commander advanced now on him, death still raging in his eyes. He thought he'd be next - he knew that he'd be next and very likely deserved this ultimate fate for his hand in what he'd helped to do. But he had value. At least he thought he had value as his mouth fell open.

"Pl...pl...please," Panit struggled to catch his breath, the Five-0 Commander now on top of him and the gun aimed directly at his chest. "I can ... help," he stammered inanely. "The snakes ... and ... and an antidote ... for you." Panit pointed to Steve's wrist, the fang marks much too obvious as they weeped thin rivulets of blood. "I ... I can ... help. Please. Can I help?"

Steve heard everything the Asian said and it made sense even though he, himself, couldn't find the words to reply. Instead he grabbed the Asian by the shoulder and propelled him forward towards the kitchen and the small door to the lower basement level. He knew that he needed to calm down, control his breathing and not move so very quickly. Everything he'd done and continued to do was incredibly wrong in the methods to manage a venomous snake bite.

He _knew_ all of that, yet still had a much bigger priority as he used Harrison's gun to signal that the frightened snake handler needed to open the basement door. When the man did as demanded, Steve's heart stopped. The Asian's stature was small and he could easily see over his shoulder. Even in the dim light, what met his eyes was shocking to say the least and Steve wavered in place.

"Oh God," Steve choked out from the top of the staircase, his momentary pause gone a second later as he almost violently pushed Panit ahead of him.

His partner lay prone just shy of the bottom landing, face down, arms akimbo and unmoving. There was no sign of the snake. But Steve didn't care. With his hand buried in the Asian's shirt and the gun aimed at the man's back, he was already propelling both of them down the staircase, taking steps two and three at a time.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	9. Chapter 9

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

"Danny," Steve called out as he practically tripped down each step, landing hard on his knees by Danny's side, pulling Panit down with him. "Danny?!"

 _He'd gotten loose._ Somehow, Danny had gotten away and then collapsed. On his knees, Steve bent low, splaying one hand over his partner's back while peering into his face. "Danno? Can you hear me?" Steve pleaded. Sweat and streaks of grime caked Danny's face. Even more distressing to Steve though were the tears glistening across clumped lashes and the sheer agony of each juddering inhale which he could literally feel through the palm of his hand.

 _Against every odd, he'd gotten free._ But he'd _collapsed_ and now ... _now_ ... Danny was having tremendous difficulty breathing.

"Danny?" There was no answer though and Steve's heart continued to plummet, worsened when he saw the comm link. Being able to hear far too much was probably the reason why Danny had likely fought so hard and Steve scrubbed at his face before reaching for the small device.

"Here. Let me take this off now," Steve whispered as he gently removed and then tossed the link aside. He winced as the simple motion sparked an ache in his wrist to remind him of his own life-threatening issue, too. But Danny could hardly breathe _now_ and Steve simply needed to manage his triage.

"He can't breathe right. Help me turn him," Steve said to Panit. He glared in warning, his fingers digging mercilessly into the man's skin. Though his voice remained inordinately quiet, any and all kindness shown towards Danny, didn't exist at all when it came to the Asian. "Easy towards me ... _easy_ ... and go slow."

Between the two of them, they turned Danny over to his back, his head resting against Steve's left thigh. Panit straightened Danny's legs, uncertain about what to do when he saw that the blonde man's ankles were still bound. He opened this mouth to ask and then slammed it closed as he first eyed the detective's badly bruised chest and then warily watched the Commander's reaction.

Panit wisely said nothing as the Five-0 officer gently traced the deepening bruises littering the injured man's torso. Deep, angry blacks, crimsons and blues left the officer livid with anger and Panit silently shaking in fear.

The Asian's eyes were still sharp though and he winced when he saw the bloody mark on the detective's inner arm before the Commander. He had little courage left to draw upon, but Panit did so as he touched the tattered sleeve to check the wound. The python's bite was deep and not at all fatal, nonetheless he could easily guess the pending response.

"Excuse ... me." Steeling himself against the anger, Panit nervously cleared his throat. " _Ah ...she ... ah_ ... bit him," he quietly added from where he knelt across from the dark-haired commander. He didn't dare meet the man's eyes directly; already petrified that the ex-SEAL might change his mind about needing his help, Panit focused on the injured detective and his attempt at offering help.

"She bit him. Here. On his arm," Panit repeated as he carefully lifted Danny's right arm to show Steve the bloody mark on the underside of the bruised bicep.

"It ... _what_? Steve choked out loudly, eyes widening in shock when he saw the deep wound. "What does that mean? How long does he have?" He didn't know where to land his emotions when he saw the dual sets of gouges, the skin swollen and bruised looking. Things were still so badly out of control when he didn't think they could get any worse. Yet they just had.

"It's all right. She's not venomous," Panit hastily explained, his face ashen but no less relieved to admit that bit of truth. "He's okay. I swear it." He watched as the Commander's face changed far too many times to count before trying to say more, uncertain if the man had heard him, or worse yet - even believed him. "She's a ball python - _a constrictor_ ... she was just protecting herself. They don't usually bite ...and ..."

"I don't care what she is or what the hell she might have been doing!" Steve shouted suddenly over Danny's body when he realized the reason as to why Danny had literally cried out in horror and pain. "The fucking thing bit him!"

"But ... but ... she's not at all lethal," Panit stumbled over his words. " _Not_ ... lethal!" Eyes wide and hands raised in defense, he reared back on his heels expecting to be beaten or even killed on the spot. "Please ... _please_ listen to me ... the snake is not venomous. She's not dangerous. The bite ... it's painful, yes. And ... a snake's bite ... he'll need medicine. But he'll be fine!"

"Not dangerous?" Steve shook his head, bewildered by the man's words and almost unwilling to believe what he was being told. 'You just said that it bit him. Isn't that dangerous enough?" Besides, the snake simply had to be lethal. After all, this was Frankln Ray's doing and he only dealt with deadly reptiles. Steve wasn't sure what to believe as he stared from Danny's stricken face to the Asian's frightened one.

Not lethal? Could that really be true? Or, was the snake handler lying to him?

"Fuck," Steve whispered angrily as he bounced wildly between bad decisions and poorer options. He felt as if he were at a crossroads and didn't know which way to turn or what to believe. Leaning over Danny's body, he grabbed Panit's shirt with his good hand and twisted his fist into it.

"You'd damned well better not be lying to me. Say it again," Steve demanded when he heard the low, soft moan and Danny's hand twitched. Still, he only tugged the handler closer, his voice falling to an angry hiss. "Tell me _again_ ... and don't lie."

"She's not a venomous snake. She's a ball python, Commander," Panit quickly obliged him, sweat beading his upper lip, his face colorless. "I swear it." The Commander's whitened knuckles were just under his Adam's apple, pressing hard and making it difficult to swallow. Dry-mouthed, Panit had to force himself to stay calm as he desperately tried to find better words to use in order to offer his explanation. "She's not at all venomous and likely only bit him out of confusion ... fear. She's hungry, scared and out of sorts ... been mistreated. What happened now ... it wasn't her fault."

"Scared? Is that what you just said - are you serious?" Steve snapped dangerously. "Not its _fault_? I couldn't give a rat's ass about its feelings or ... if it's been ... mistreated! Just tell me what he needs, dammit! What kind of medicine?!"

"Antibiotics," Panit whispered. "A snake's mouth is ... dirty. He risks infection and I swear he'll only need antibiotics. I promise you that's all he'll need when it comes to caring for the bite. I swear!" He was beyond frightened now as he was dragged a forward few inches; completely terrified that he'd _say_ the wrong thing or _do_ the wrong thing until the Five-0 Commander abruptly let him go.

"He'll need a round of antibiotics in case of infection. But that's all of it. I swear," Panit stammered through a mad rush of words as he rocked back on his heels. "But ... you," he started with a sharp inhale when he realized that the Commander's pupils were so very dilated, that the blue was all but gone. It was a symptom from the krait's lethal bite and Panit swallowed hard as he pointed to the man's wrist.

"But you ... I need ... I _need_ to help you."

Steve narrowed his eyes, ignoring the murky gray leaking into his vision. He needed help, but it wasn't what the Asian might have had in mind as he searched their vicinity.

"First, you need to help me by finding that damned snake. Where is it?" He snapped out angrily into Panit's wan face. "Find it! Secure it ... get it gone"

"But ... yes," Panit quickly reversed direction as he balanced unsteadily on the balls of his feet, understanding what was required of him immediately. "All right!" The delay was a risk, but he'd only be allowed to help once the python had been found.

"I _will_ kill you," Steve ground out as he used Panit's shirt to yank him back down to his knees before he could fully get to his feet, purposefully letting his threat swing dangerously in the air between them. For further impact, the gun was now pressed hard into Panit's breastbone. Hard enough to make him wince in pain as metal bruised skin and bone.

"If you try to leave - or try anything at all - I will kill you. So, you find that thing ... secure it and come back to me. Or so help me, I'll track you down and kill you with my bare hands."

"Yes, I'll find her, " Panit hastily repeated nervously as he shakily rose to his feet, one hand rubbing at the sore spot on his chest. "I'll take care of her ... then I'll come back ... to help. Please your wrist - you need my help. You need to at least sit quietly ... try not to move so very much."

Steve glared deeply into the man's wan face, his promise to follow through on killing the man ever present even as Panit trotted away. For whatever reason, Steve knew the Asian would indeed do as asked though. He would return to help. With an eye and ear tuned towards the Asian's activities, Steve focused the rest of his attention as Danny moaned softly on a shallow exhale.

"Come on ... come on," Steve chanted as he bore his fingers into Danny's carotid, while gently skimming the fall of sweaty hair away from Danny's face. "Calm down for me, buddy. It's over ... it's over."

Danny's pulse was weak and much too erratic, as was his breathing. His skin was clammy and sticky with sweat and Steve grimaced unhappily at what his thorough triage was continually proving. Worried beyond measure with what he found and the frightful cry he'd heard, Steve uselessly ran his free hand over his face and into his hair as he assessed his friend.

"You're tougher than this, pal," Steve murmured as he gently moved on from measuring Danny's disappointing vitals to understanding the scope of his injuries. He noted multiple bruises, contusions and swellings around his head and face. His lips were damp with both old and fresh streaks of blood. Then, he could feel the disconcerting creak of broken bone under his fingertips. Two or maybe even three ribs had been broken.

"You're tougher than this," he whispered again. His fear on the rise as his search only yielded more problems. He gulped hard, almost choking at the lump he felt in his throat. "You are. So open your eyes. Danno ... open your eyes for me, buddy." They couldn't beat Franklin Ray only to die now. Steve couldn't lose Danny now; that would be completely unacceptable.

"Danno ... hang on," he urged softly as Danny only moaned again, his eyelashes fluttering but refusing to open all the way. Steve swallowed again and tried to clear his throat against that knot which wouldn't go away. Under his hand, Danny was trembling, his muscles quivering tightly, a cold sweat leaving his skin bright with a sickly sheen.

"Please ... please hang on for me. Now's not the time for this. It's just not," Steve whispered hoarsely as his mind raced through options on how best to get real help - medical help - _help_ from the rest of his team who were no doubt looking for them both. Another moan was low and heart-wrenchingly fraught with a deep pain, and Danny's right fist clenched once only to limply fall to the ground. The almost hidden sparkle of glass shined for but an instant, yet it was enough for Steve to understand how Danny had managed to get free. He chuffed an appreciative sound deep in his throat when he managed to pry Danny's fingers away from the glass shard.

"So, is that how you did it?" Steve whispered. But it was then, too, that he saw the deep cut on Danny's left palm, as well as the thinner spider web of bloody slices over all his fingers; he realized that Danny's ankles were still bound. Danny had gotten loose and literally dragged himself as far as he could go. All at a terrible cost. The thick knot worsened in Steve's throat as he began to put all the clues together. He was devastated by the truth and depth of his best friend's fight. He absolutely had to get them both out of Ray's ruined mansion.

"Commander?" He looked up when the Asian man called out and the fall of his light footsteps announced his return. Frowning, Steve gave a small shake of his head when he had trouble focusing on the man's face. He blinked rapidly and yet still failed at clearing his vision completely.

"What?" He snapped angrily as the Asian stood over him, shoulders bunched up in fear. "Did you find it?" Ensuring that the gun was ever visible, Steve was impatient with the faint nod. "Well, where is it then?"

"She's ... she's wrapped inside the blanket," Panit announced. Not knowing what to do, he'd left her there. Undisturbed and knowing she'd certainly not move from her poor nest, he thought it a good idea, but he blanched and began to stumble badly over his tongue when he saw that the Commander didn't approve. "The python. She's alive ... she's rolled herself up in the blanket. Cold, and probably not going anywhere ..."

"Get it out of the blanket ... put it somewhere safe. Anywhere where it can't get loose again! I don't care where you move it to ... as long as its locked up tight," Steve ordered. "After, I need to get him upstairs and I need the blanket to do that; like a stretcher. You're going to help me carry him. But only after you get rid of that damned thing!"

"Carry him?" Panit blurted though he certainly knew better than to argue with the irate Commander. Moving either of them seemed like a bad idea to him. He grimaced as he looked to the dark-haired man's wrist, wanting to care for the wound first. They'd never get the detective up the staircase, Panit knew that much as he gauged the Commander's bleary-eyed inability to focus and rising tremble though his hands. The onset of the neurotoxic symptoms of envenomation could start in minutes or progress over hours, but with the level of sustained activity he'd maintained, the Five-0 officer was definitely causing himself dangerous harm.

Burying his advice for the moment though, Panit only nodded before jogging away to care for the python. He easily found the snake's head buried deeply in the folds of thick material first before carefully pulling her into his arms. In his free hand, he bundled the blanket to drop it at Steve's feet.

"I'll be right back ... the tanks upstairs are best," he said as he bypassed Steve for the stairs, preferring to house her within the safety of the heavy third tank. He paused briefly though, turning to seek permission for one more errand. "Then my medical kit ... I need my kit. The antivenin ... can I get my kit?"

"Yeah," Steve warned him with that single syllable. He paused, swallowing thickly against the unsettling terror which had set up camp in his throat. With more effort than should have been necessary, he drew in a stuttered breath before lobbing one more hoarse warning at the snake handler. "You have two minutes. Less than that."

He watched the Asian leave, the blur of the lemon-colored snake held tightly in his arms, the haze of what was likely its tail looped almost serenely around the handler's waist.

Sinking down to sit all the way, Steve guided Danny's head along his thigh to further pillow his friend against the hard floor. His left hand was now protectively splayed over Danny's chest, while his aching right, held the gun at the ready, the weapon numbingly cool beneath his fingers. Rocking his head against the wall behind him, Steve briefly closed his eyes to focus on each of Danny's shallow inhales and wheezed out exhales. His hand moved up ... then down ... then up again, but the cadence was all wrong; in fact, there was no natural rhythm at all and Steve had to remind himself what the handler had sworn.

"Not venomous," he murmured softly to himself, taking at least some reassurance from that fact despite Danny's other physical injuries. But Steve jolted in surprise when the Asian returned on a run, his once light footfall now heavy in its urgency and he sighed miserably when he realized he'd never reopened his eyes from a light doze.

 _"Shit, shit,"_ Steve cursed under his breath, sweat beading on his skin and his hand shaking as he rubbed the moisture from his lips. He swallowed hard again and gave out with a series of phlegmy coughs. His chest was heavy with more than concern for his friend and he couldn't ignore it. Each inhale was a bit more difficult to make and he found himself concentrating on the simple task of breathing with as much intensity as the stare he gave Ray immediately before putting a bullet in him. Steve felt something - _fear_ \- take a stronger hold as he looked up into the handler's face, his eyes squinting because the simple act of blinking suddenly seemed a chore: he'd zoned out and didn't remember it even happening. He felt ... wrong ... a sense of impending doom gripped him, choking him with invisible fingers as it wound its way beneath his very skin to settle around his heart like an icy blanket enveloping his soul. Yet he had things to do ... he had to stay aware and remain in control.

"What?" Steve asked through another hitched inhale, this time successfully combatting the urge to cough. But only just barely. He knuckled his chest angrily against the odd heaviness and refused to give in, his jaw rock-hard in its stubbornness. Nonetheless, Steve couldn't ignore the handler's wide-eyed worry, nor the way he shook his head, clearly upset.

"Here," Panit replied as he all but shoved the cell phone into the Commander's hand. "It's mine. Call ... for help." He hunkered down then, his medical kit already open as he quickly searched for the right supplies. "But you ... time is running out and I need to finish caring for your wound. The krait ... it's not the same as the python. I have the antivenin ... here in my kit for the hospital; there are instructions. But now ... please, _now_! You must let me help you. You have to sit quietly and try to relax. Try not to move. Please ... let me help you before it's too late!"

"Jesus," Steve whispered in astonishment, the unexpected gift of a fully charged, working cell phone a miracle under their present circumstances. The cell phone's small display was also too bright and Steve winced in pain, his eyes suddenly too sensitive. The small white buttons swam in front of him in a kaleidoscope of whites and muted grays. But he had a phone and, brow knit in confusion as the handler gently manipulated and began to bind his wounded wrist, Steve looked at the Asian queerly before he dialed first 911 and then Chin Ho Kelly.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	10. Chapter 10

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Louis Small drove lazily around the old estate. He only felt mildly defensive for having taken the large SUV. Ray's orders weren't entirely clear about how Louis might keep an eye on their position or protect their perimeter. With such a rambling property, _borrowing_ the over-sized SUV seemed most efficient. It was also an excellent opportunity to get as far away from Ray and his deadly _children_ as humanly possible.

His circuitous route soon had him poking his nose into the defunct horse stables and mulling the oddity of a few rooms. He registered the dusty rear entrance and the dilapidated gate once used for deliveries of hay or grain for the horses - if there ever had been animals housed there in the first place. At least, the four-legged kind because one or two rooms seemed more than odd.

More cell than office or even storage closet, he had an inkling that these rooms might have been torture chambers of sorts for one Doctor Franklin Ray. Skin crawling when he spied a discarded glass fish tank, partly filled with rain water and green lichen, Louis left quickly with the reluctant knowledge that he'd been gone almost too long for a simple check of the perimeter.

Louis looked up though when he saw the distant spots on the horizon; their faint _whump whump whump_ sound reaching him on the wind. He scowled and slowed the big truck to a stop before his foot automatically rediscovered the gas pedal. The white markings on at least one of the helicopters was clear enough: H.P.D.

"Shit!" Louis shouted to himself as he raced back to the main house to raise the alarm, a plume of dirt proving his very existence to the sharp-eyed officials who were zeroed in on saving their own. They - no _he_ \- was in so much trouble, he was sure that Ray might turn one of his deadly snakes on him.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

 _'Dying shouldn't be this hard,_ ' Danny thought to himself. _'Or, hurt so much.'_ Only half-aware of what was going on around him, he tried to bury that half back down to where he didn't feel the fire in his arm or know that he was still laboring to breathe. His body was leaden and yet on fire from top to bottom. Maybe Franklin Ray had engineered some crazy bionic snake that was killing him in slow motion ... like an old black and white movie reel without sound.

Like ... _Charlie Chaplin._

Danny grimaced to himself as his mind wandered to an illogical place. _Robert Downy, Jr._ It was a good movie. One of his favorites in fact. But ... but, what the hell did _Charlie Chaplin_ have to do with anything? Especially with a snake? A memory of pale lemon and white shimmered in front of him. Yellowed head with eyes the colors of a sparkling ruby. _Angry. Unforgiving._

He'd been bitten. _Dangerous_. He shivered uncontrollably, his chest muscles inadvertently clenching. He'd been bitten and that explained the fire inside. He was dying in slow motion and he forgot how to breathe as his chest spasmed again into a flare of white-hot agony.

_'Dying shouldn't be this hard. Or, hurt so much.'_

" _Steve_?" Danny's mouth opened, but nothing came out. He only thought he'd spoken as his brow pinched in pain, eyes so tightly wedged shut that tears leaked out nearly continually. He had to breathe. He had to find a way to fast forward the movie and get to Steve. But he couldn't hear anything and didn't understand more than the pain he was in.

"You're ... hurting ... him," Steve rasped out as he watched Danny's face crease in pain, his voice soft and yet his tone as dangerous as Danny's half-aware nightmarish ramblings.

"I'm sorry," Panit blurted. "I don't mean to." On his knees by both men, he was trying to disinfect Danny's wound. He had already cared for the Commander's arm and presented him with a small yellow box, the color of which nearly matched that of the python of all things. Incredibly too, the box quite literally was branded by the Red Cross and explicitly described as 'Banded Krait Antivenin'. Steve was stunned when he'd read the label and almost thought it a bad, bad joke.

On any other day, he might have laughed about the thing actually existing just like any some basic, mundane, over-the-counter drug. But what he was experiencing now was certainly no laughing matter. While both the gun and cell phone sat on his lap within easy reach of his good hand, the life-saving box sat next to his right hip as if it might serve as a talisman. _Useless_ until its life-saving contents could be reconstituted and administered by intravenous to neutralize the venom running through his bloodstream.

"I ... told you ... to be careful. Are you ... done?" Steve whispered. " _Fuck_ ... just ... get it ...done." He forced his eyes open at the same time he felt the severity of another pained shudder ripple through his hand. He'd just checked the time a few seconds earlier, aware that the snake handler had done the very same thing. That realization was worrisome and Steve fruitlessly argued the man's evident tendency to be thorough. But the Asian was smart, well-educated and certainly knew his job. A worrisome count down was in progress and that fact, was purely unavoidable.

Panit had dutifully done what he could until the antivenin could be administered at the hospital, but Steve was running short on time.

"Yes," Panit replied. "Almost ... it's a painful wound. I don't mean to hurt him."

With a curt nod for Panit to continue caring for Danny's arm, Steve closed his eyes until another solid jolt ran through his hand. "But ... you ...you are and I can ... literally ... _feel_ it," he slurred, this time much more angrily than before. "Take ... _take_ it ... easy."

The krait's venom was wreaking havoc on Steve's system and his breathing was worsening, along with his ability to frame the simplest of words. He did his best to communicate his warnings to the nervous Asian. Time was going excruciatingly slowly though. Each passing second seemed an eternity. But doing the math sluggishly in his head, only nineteen minutes had elapsed since he'd killed Franklin Ray. Seventeen and change since he'd sat down next to his partner, angry and fretting, but only seven minutes since Steve had called 911 and Chin, which meant that the medi-vac - _and his team_ \- were nearly there. But something was going on with his partner and, despite Panit's clear attempts at only dressing Danny's wounds, Steve turned his flagging attention towards the jittery handler in an accusatory manner.

Though Danny's body was in constant motion, what Steve was feeling now was entirely different - more of a startled jolt. A shocked sense of having regained consciousness in an unhappy place and with that, all the fear that went along with it. Steve instantly blamed the Asian snake handler as being the primary cause.

"What's ... wrong?" He demanded of Panit, his voice hushed and breath shallow. "What ... what ... did you do? You ... hurt ... him?" Moving his hand from the gun which he'd balanced on his own lap as a visual reminder to Panit to behave, Steve's hand splayed protectively over Danny's blanketed chest when tried to move again, his body weakly jackknifing.

"No! I didn't ... I didn't hurt him ... at least, not on purpose!" Panit replied quickly as he tried to maintain a gentle hold of the bandage he was trying to finish off around the detective's bite wound. "His arm ... I was only ... almost done with his arm. Maybe ... perhaps his other injuries, too."

Panit winced when the Commander glowered at him. The detective was badly injured; the snake bite almost an insult when compared to the beatings he'd been forced to endure by the other men. Panit swallowed hard, his fingers trembling but careful. He'd just wrapped Danny's left palm, a sluggishly bleeding slice from the broken glass. He'd moved on to disinfecting the python's fang marks sunken into his bicep, but Panit had sparked a flux of pain during his simple course of giving first aid which had roused the man.

Inadvertently now, he'd also woken the Commander from his quiet vigilance.

"His arm ... I'm just tending his arm," Panit reiterated while he withered under Steve's angry glare. "Then ... his other injuries. I know you don't believe me, but I am trying to be careful." Even though his vision was undoubtedly causing him an issue, the Commander's message was delivered loudly and quite clearly: no matter how much Panit tried to help, this man didn't trust him one bit.

"I'm sorry," Panit said again, his face pale as he glanced towards the gun. He could leave. There was no one there to stop him now. As the Commander stared at him icily, he wanted to leave with all his heart. Panit knew he could very easily just walk away and yet for no apparent reason, he stayed without truly understanding why. "Ah?" He frowned and froze in place when he saw the unexpected sliver of glassy blue. With hands carefully wrapped around the final twist of a white bandage, Panit motioned with his chin. "He's waking. He's waking ... but ... he's upset and confused."

"Danno?" Steve lazily blinked his gaze down, trying hard to focus. Even this close, Danny's face was blurry to him as if shrouded beyond a grayish veil. "Hey ... hey ... Danny." Danny's eyes were indeed just opening. Glassy and watery with pain, Steve watched as Danny squinted and tried to understand where he was and even why. It was a heart-breaking thing to watch and Steve swallowed hard before speaking.

"Danny?" Steve whispered, trying to get a better look at Danny's face. "Danny? Hey. Come on ... look at me." No longer able to draw in a satisfying breath of air though, Steve's voice was soft and wispy on each exhale. He wasn't being heard properly, so he weakly fought to wrap his fingers around Danny's hand. "Hey ... Danno. Look at me, buddy."

Waking in a world of hurt when he'd tried so hard to sink into oblivion, Danny saw Panit first. He woke to the tightness of a band wrapped around his right bicep and assumed it to be the snake. He woke seeing Panit first and his reaction was an instantaneous sense of panic. He moaned deeply in distress, wishing none of it was happening. Franklin and his damnable snakes; and now, the reappearance of the handler. His distress only worsened when the Asian man held his hand out to him, imploringly to be sure, but Danny wanted no part of his apology. Never expecting to see this particular man practically on top of him, Danny tried to move away. He had no fight left in him though. Distraught, he never felt Steve's hand splayed protectively over his chest. A hand which eventually worked hard to wend its way through the fisted fingers of his right hand as way of reassurance.

He should be dead. He'd been bitten ... and yet, he wasn't ... _dead_. Confused and fighting his resurgence of terror, Danny's eyes widened helplessly when he really saw the snake handler. Crouched down at his side, the man was studying him intently. Watching .. waiting. He'd been sent back - there was a good chance that the man had simply been sent back on Ray's orders to finish the job.

"No," Danny slurred, the one syllable ending on a painful, wretched cough. He closed his eyes, whimpering in pain, his heels digging weakly into the floor. But he had no hope of traction and nothing left in his stores to fight with.

_He couldn't do it again._

"Whoa, hey, hey!" Steve rasped out softly, his voice ending on a nearly soundless whisper. He swallowed hard before finding enough air to try again. "Danny? Look ...at me, buddy. You're ...okay ... it's okay." Using only his left hand, Steve was additionally hampered by the neat bandage which ran the length of his right arm. He'd voiced his disapproval, but Panit was adamant about the proper method he'd needed to employ to splint and further immobilize his arm to discourage the rampaging venom from over taking his blood stream. Displeased with the end results though, Steve was even more so upset now as he tried to manage Danny's agitated state only one-handed.

"The Commander's here," Panit stated, his face full of an earnest calm as he quickly finished wrapping the wound and eased himself back a few inches. He sat back on his heels, giving more space to the injured man so he'd not appear to be so very aggressive. "Please ... he's next to you. _Please_ ... I'm just helping."

"He's ... all right," Steve whispered, his fingers squeezing into Danny's hand again. "Danny ... _Danny_ , let him help you. Come ... on, buddy ... look at me. Come ... on."

Though he didn't utter a single word, Steve was relieved when Danny finally turned his head enough to see him. Danny's mouth opened and then closed soundlessly as he tried to focus on Steve's face. He remembered the snake and wanting to desperately get away - he _remembered_ a need to get to Steve and frowned in confusion because Steve was there with him now. Danny's eyes fell back on the snake handler and then nervously across his own blanketed body. He twitched his legs in fear and forgot how to breathe expecting to see the outline of a long, slithering bump.

But ... nothing was there.

"I took care of your hand and your arm," Panit quietly explained. He pointed to the thick bandage around Danny's bicep, afraid to smile, but still trying to offer understanding. "The python is gone ... I took care of her ... she's not here anymore."

There was no snake.

And he hadn't died. There was nothing new gripping him or lying in wait, huddled under the blanket. Nonetheless, he couldn't stop the tremors running through his body. Not even when he shakily held up his newly bandaged left hand. The bandage was spotted with blood, but new and without needing to check, Danny could also tell that the communications link was gone

The terrible drone of Franklin Ray's voice from inside his ear was _gone_. And Steve ... even though they were undoubtedly still in the depths of the old mansion ... _Steve was back_ and very much _alive_.

"Danno?" Steve softly asked, his expression full of worry when Danny seemed to zone out and away from him. He swallowed repeatedly, the knot in his throat ever present and beginning to impede his breathing. "Hey. Danno? You ... _you_ ... with me yet?"

"I ..." Danny whispered in confusion. He blinked incredulously as he tried to focus more on the here and now. He was miserable though: sick, nauseous and entirely miserable. Maybe he was still dying ... maybe that was why Steve was there and why he was now back down in the damp basement. No matter what the reason, things were still bad and Danny's heart clenched inside his chest. He was sick, hurting both inside and out - _dying_.

He fidgeted weakly and tried to turn to really see Steve, but a sharp pain warned him at he same time Steve's hand tightened across his chest. Danny choked, his face turning gray as his breath wheezed inside his lungs.

"No. _Nonono_. Stay down," Steve said hoarsely, his voice low and breathy though his eyes showed his alarm. His left hand trembling but firmly pressing down to forestall another attempt. "Don't move ... stay ...down. You're okay."

"Not. Okay." Breathing hard through his nose, Danny weakly shook his head to the contrary. "Bite," he murmured, his eyes falling once more on the handler's face. If the man had taken care of his arm, then he knew that he'd been bitten and was dying. He looked towards Steve though when he heard the chuffed sound just over his head.

"Yeah," Steve said, a small smile breaking through his serious facade and replacing some of his own bone-deep woes. "But, Danno. You ... were bitten by ... a _non_ ... _non_ -venomous snake," he hushed out reassuringly. "You'll ... be okay."

Danny stared stupidly into Steve's face. It took him what seemed like minutes to understand what he'd been told. "But? Ray?" He wanted to argue the truth of that statement because it didn't make sense. Franklin Ray was a terrible man; a psychopath. Then again, a non-venomous snake explained why he was still alive. _Maybe_.

"It's true," Panit dared to whisper, drawing the detective's attention his way. "A python ... she isn't ... deadly. You're going to be fine ... really."

Danny blinked rapidly as the Asian seconded Steve's words. Slowly, he allowed the words to sink into his head to really believe the truth. He didn't feel well at all. His injuries were severe and yet, the snake - Ray's snake - wasn't the deadly kind. Falling quiet, Danny let his restless legs cease their sporadic attempts at running away. His pallor was still poor and his breathing punctuated by a rapid, shallow whine. But resting against Steve's thigh, Danny gave a sketchy nod of understanding.

"There's my boy," Steve whispered in relief when he felt the change through his hand, his head falling back against the wall with a soft thud. His partner was still literally vibrating in pain, but the thick tension had lessened considerably.

"Easy ... relax, buddy. Things ... things are going to be all right," he murmured softly.

Danny closed his eyes wearily as he listened to Steve's quiet patter. He rested as he lay there, pillowed up against Steve's thigh and a heavy hand resting on his chest to buoy his flagging strength. He knew that he was far from being out of the woods. Something was wrong inside; he could feel it and they were still desperately in need of help. Eyes closed, Danny frowned as his thoughts turned to Franklin Ray ... then the handler.

Squinting his eyes open again, Danny peered warily into Panit's face. "Why are you here?" He asked, his voice sounding rough and even garbled to his own ear. "Why? What do you want?"

Panit visibly winced before looking at the Five-0 Commander, whose eyes were still closed while he rested quietly. He opened his mouth, his gaze now on the floor, but he didn't know what to say. A moment later he didn't need to say anything when the detective gasped out loud.

"God ...Steve? Steven?" Danny suddenly croaked out, his eyes easily reading the guilt broadcasted across Panit's face. _Steve had been with Ray_ ... and the man had whispered an evil promise inside Danny's ear. A whispered, dangerous vow about what would happen should he fall asleep. His unease on the rise once more, Danny tried to turn despite the pain he caused himself. He tried to turn onto his left elbow, his voice shaking in pain as he tugged on his friend's hand.

Startled by Danny's moan of pain and the shifting of his position, Steve's eyes flew back open. He coughed when his breath hitched and he shook his head, arguing his symptoms before he could rediscover his voice. "Danny ... you can't ... don't try ... to move!"

"No. No. Did ... it?" Danny persisted when Steve tried to shush him again, a trilled warning making him nearly dizzy with fear and he panted through the feeling. If Steve was with him now, then Franklin Ray would very well be dead and Danny could just about guess the who and how of it. But as Steve tried to continually shush him, his voice hoarse and weak, Danny now had a stranglehold on his one good hand. Perched awkwardly on his elbow and trembling badly, Danny saw the cold sheen of sweat coating Steve's face. He saw the spasmodic swallowing and the way his partner was leaning, slouched against the wall.

Then ... Danny saw the hand to bicep wrapped splint which kept his friend's right arm perfectly immobilized. A pressure bandage expertly wrapped so very neatly with a taupe-colored crepe bandage.

"What did Ray do to you?" Danny whispered, his fear back in spades. "Steve? What the hell happened?" He coughed and then gagged against a poker of white hot pain that flooded his chest. Something creaked warningly inside, but Danny bit his lip against the agony, determined to hear the truth. He gasped just as he heaved in a broken, panted breath of air and instantly choked on it when Steve dropped his gaze. Danny's eyes were full of real tears now, near to spilling over and he was shaking so badly that his voice had adopted a similar tremor.

It was true. Ray had gotten his way and Steve had been bitten.

"Oh, God," Danny murmured as he sank into the floor He shook his head, eyes closing as his chest tightened and breathing became a panted chore. "How ... how bad?"

"It's ... okay," Steve gently interrupted Danny's fervor. He tried to be gentle and even a bit evasive in order to protect Danny's tenuous condition. However, Danny knew and he only dug his fingernails more deeply into his hand, the plea a desperate one for the truth. "But yeah. Danny ... it bit me on my wrist," Steve replied quietly as he thumbed a wet track from Danny's temple and tried to encourage him to relax, stay calm.

 _"Ev... everything's_ under ... control though. We even have ... the antivenin already. So ... so just ... take it easy, huh?"

Another wet, glistening bead followed that first though, suspiciously close to Danny's eye, and Steve gently thumbed that away too. Steve could cut the tension with a knife and neither of them could afford the additional stress. Steve grimaced when Danny tried to take a deep breath and coughed heavily and groaned, the pain apparent and his breathing instantly altering.

"Please, take it .. easy. Calm ...down. _Ev_...everything's going ...to be all right ...and you _need_ ...to stay calm. I'm ...okay ... you're going ...to be okay, too," Steve hoarsely whispered, his voice waxing and waning on each stuttered inhale and exhale. Their hands were interlaced so tightly that Steve was sure his fingers were going to be bruised. He could hear the choppers much more clearly now and knew help was only a few short minutes out and though his own fear had ratcheted up, Steve did his best to smile reassuringly as Danny panted, his complexion ashen.

"Medi-Vac," Steve murmured. He rubbed his thumb over Danny's knuckles, demanding his attention - doing anything he could to distract him. "Chin ... Kono. We'll be ... out of here ... in no time."

So focused on Danny and the bluish tinge sneaking into his lips, Steve missed Panit's subtle glance up towards the top of the staircase. He didn't see or hear the Asian's startled murmur of surprise when the missing fourth man appeared. In fact, just like Panit, Steve hadn't even missed Louis Small in the first place.

Eyes widened in bewilderment, Louis stared down at Panit, clearly able to see both officers side by side at the foot of the staircase. He backed up silently, his gun at the ready, but only got as far as the hallway when he saw Franklin Ray's hand draped over the threshold to the study. Lax and stained with droplets of blood, he didn't need to see anything else because he knew what had happened.

His small ad hoc team had been summarily disabled.

"Crap," Louis murmured nervously as the tell-tale sound of the choppers increased. Edging back into the kitchen and easing himself to peer carefully down the staircase again, he cocked his head invitingly just once towards the snake handler. There was a faint nod as the smaller man rose smoothly to his feet, taking full advantage of the officers' distraction.

Panit would indeed leave now and Louis would wait for him - but only for so long. Scarcely longer than the time it would take for Louis to run back to the SUV, in fact. Backing silently away, Panit's heel rose to hit the first step. As the detective moaned in pain, his elbow giving out to slump down heavily to the ground, the Asian was already gone.

" _God_ ," Danny mouthed helplessly, his eyes closing while his head lolled to the side in fear. He couldn't breathe properly and Steve's voice, already weak and soft, soon became lost to the roaring in his ears. Mouth open, he fought to gain the smallest tendril of air and never quite succeeded. There was a metallic, tannic taste on his tongue and a new pain resonating into his left shoulder.

_He couldn't breathe._

"Steve," Danny rasped out just one final time. Eyes wedged closed, his ability to breathe had suddenly worsened exponentially. Hardly able to suck more than a thin whisper of oxygen into his laboring lungs, Danny's lips had taken on a blueish hue.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, his eyes widening in fear as he literally watched his partner fail to breathe, the panic on his face obvious. Danny looked like he was a man drowning. "Danny?"

With all his attention solely focused on Danny's failing vitals despite his own predicament, Steve never knew when Panit had snuck stealthily away to leave them. His one good hand was shaking as he probed along Danny's chest, a curse on his lips when he felt the _crackle_ and _pop_ of tiny air-filled bubbles under bruised skin and over the damaged bone.

"Fuck, Danny," Steve groaned. "What the hell ... did you do." He knew what he was feeling. He knew _why_ and Danny was in real trouble now as he began to flounder anew. His illicit move to twist his body to a poorly anchored elbow had exacerbated the broken ribs. Then the _coughing_ ... the concussion of the coughs had finished the job to puncture Danny's left lung.

Panit entirely forgotten, Steve grimaced as he helplessly sat next to his partner and listened to the rising sounds of the helicopters. Danny barely had minutes left and while Steve knew exactly what to do, he needed a set of steady hands. He needed the right tools ... and he desperately needed the strength. But he had none of those things at his disposal as he sat stranded up against a damp concrete wall in Franklin Ray's one time snake den.

"Help's ... here," he whispered, his voice hardly audible as he begged his partner to listen ... _to hang on_ ... the non-stop raspy, broken sounds of Danny trying to breathe terrifying to hear. "They're here, Danno. Hang ... on ... _please_."

The choppers - two he could tell by the sound of the echo - were so close now. Incredibly _close_ and possibly even landing on the large expanse of front lawn. "Listen ... to me," Steve fought on to regain his partner's frightened gaze as he began to lose consciousness, their hands weakly intertwined. "Hey ... look at me. They're ... here," Steve promised as Danny's glazed eyes briefly fell on his face, his eyelashes fluttering in desperation while he fought a terrifying battle.

As the words spilled breathlessly from his lips, Steve secretly prayed that what he was saying was the truth.

"Help's ... here ...they're ... _here_ ... it's okay, Danno. I ... swear to _God_ ... it is."

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	11. Chapter 11

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

The grayish haze of Steve's silhouette was the last thing which Danny saw, but the last thing he felt was the oppressive weight which sat atop his chest. His face stayed creased in pain as he fought pressure which seemed to be crushing his lungs. In a void of black, only a speckling of fake stars glittered behind his closed lashes before he didn't even see those. He argued an inability to breathe but could only gasp helplessly for the tiniest bit of air until his world slowly spiraled down to the size of a pinprick.

Stuck inside an ever-growing vacuum of pitch where all he could hear was the sound of his own blood pounding through his head, Danny knew what was happening. He knew that he should do something more to fight. But as his fingers finally fell lax and his body began to shut down, Danny wound up doing nothing at all.

" _D'nno_ ," Steve choked out as his own issues began to worsen. He had enough resolve to want to fight an army, but it didn't matter as the krait's neurotoxin attacked his system.

Sitting literally next to his friend, Steve was forced to watch the horrifying changes, desperate to help and yet literally unable to move a finger more than a few awkward inches. With help finally arriving en masse, it was completely unfair that they'd both potentially die right then and there. He tried to clear his throat around the pervasive lump and choked heavily. He couldn't swallow normally and could scarcely breathe.

He had no _voice._

He'd also wrongly assumed that Ray's handler had gone upstairs to bring help directly to them. But as each second ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace, Steve certainly should have known better: the Asian had decided to take his chances and run.

Steve glanced down worriedly towards Danny. His staccato open-mouthed gasps for air were becoming fewer and farther between. It was inconceivable to even think that they were both really ... _dying_.

More guttural whine than frustrated moan, Steve closed his eyes and willed his lungs to work. Through his inner ear, he could feel the deep resonating rhythmic song of the dual rotors as the two helicopters were set down and engines were set to idle. Within seconds, he heard people converging on the house.

 _"H-hey ..._ " Coated in a slick sweat, Steve tried to inhale more deeply to project a simple word. _"H-hey ..."_ He tried again, but he couldn't draw in enough air to satisfy his body's needs, let alone find enough wherewithal to shout for help as each attempt fell woefully shorter than the one before.

 _"Fuck, fuck!"_ Steve moaned, his plea only living now inside his head. He listened and heard the footsteps which came and retreated over his head in the main rooms. So close. _Too close._ Back and forth they went, clearing rooms and no doubt checking the wounded or dead whom Steve had left in his wake.

He needed those people with him though - and as Danny's fingers began to fall limp inside his own failing grip, Steve needed them now!

He mewled in distress as Danny's fingers idly twitched once last time. Every second counted now. The cell phone had slipped from his lap ... but the _gun_. Steve remembered the gun at the same time he heard Kono's voice shouting his name. Cursing himself under his breath for not thinking faster, Steve clenched his teeth while he crab-walked his unwilling fingers to take the short grip.

He had one hand and one chance left. He'd make it work - he'd make it be enough. Plus, as far as ideas went, it was an excellent one. His fingers were hardly able to close around the gun though and he found himself forced to battle yet another war. It was illogical, but the gun was too heavy for him to lift. Teeth clenched to the point of an audible crack, Steve dug in deeper.

 _"Come ... on,"_ he chanted in his head, staring determinedly at his hand until he finally won by managing to get his trigger finger in the right place. Face reddened in angry frustration, Steve fought hard to sloppily shove the weapon across his lap sideways. Not exactly perfect, yet good enough for what he needed to do, he balanced the weapon on the edge of his knee. With what little control he had left to muster, he forced his hand and fingers to remain steady just long enough to take aim into a remote, darkened section of the basement.

Sweat pouring down his face and breath nearly gone, Steve did what he'd done countless times before: he simply pulled the trigger.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	12. Chapter 12

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Panit sat silently in the back of the SUV as it barreled down the dusty track. He was holding the third tank in his lap, his hands virtually welded to the glass as he bounced along, every rut which the SUV hit rolling directly into the small of his back. The pit viper was active and agitated as it was once again moved entirely by someone else's whimsey and not in a kind way at all. The snake didn't care that Panit was doing his very best to hold the tank steady. Angry and tired, the viper only wanted to be left alone. Panit innately knew this about the snake and he mentally promised it a long period of uninterrupted peace and quiet once they managed to escape.

Until that happened, he could only make all of these promises in silence while giving surreptitious glances towards the injured man in the passenger seat. Slouched down and unable to bite back the moans of pain as Louis Small seemed to purposefully aim the SUV towards every rock or hole, Frank Harrison might have been injured, but he was in a rage.

"We can ... get out this way?" Harrison slurred his question at Louis, who only managed a jerked nod as he kept his eyes on the unmaintained old road. "You'd ...better be ... right." He panted through another strong urge to vomit, the concussion which McGarrett had so nicely doled out with his very own weapon, a debilitating injury. The brightness of the sun and their hasty ride was also doing him no favors at all.

"You better be ... right, Louis." Swallowing convulsively as bile riddled his throat, Harrison fisted his shirt down by his stomach. He was light-headed and sick from the concussion and his jaw felt as if it might literally fall off the side of his face, but he'd need to worry about his injuries later. Turning dizzily towards Louis, he squinted though the pain to give the younger man yet another warning. "Damn ... damn well better."

"This'll work," Louis said adamantly. "I saw it before ... this road goes far back and leads out of here."

Panit had run into Harrison in the kitchen on his way out to meet Louis. With only a wall holding the man up as he struggled to get out of the house while carrying the heavy glass tank, Harrison had glared at the Asian before spouting orders. Now, Panit was charged with caring for the pit viper and Louis with getting them all down to the docks where Gibbons had graciously provided Frank Harrison with an alternate means of transportation.

"Watch it," Harrison growled as Louis managed to connect with a rather serious rut. "Calm ... the _fuck_ down, Louis."

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry," Louis replied nervously, fingers tight around the wheel as he drove around the stables towards the gated exit. He never stopped when he saw the metal chain and small lock. He only slowed enough to ensure that he maintained control of the vehicle when he burst through the metal, skidding a bit on the pebbled ground as he accelerated.

"How far?" Harrison asked, slightly mollified as the dirt track eventually hit macadam and a real tertiary road. "How far to the highway?"

"Not sure ... but it has to, right? I mean, how else would deliveries have been made to the stables?" Louis explained his reasoning distractedly, his eyes roving up to the rear view mirror where he instantly found the tank and the slithering agitated viper. "Shit, why'd you have to bring that damned thing along, Frank?"

"Shut up ... and just get us out of here," Harrison ordered. He was in pain, sick and had vomited twice already. "Panit's ... got it. _Shit_." He moaned as his stomach twisted without warning, a sharp knife-like pain stabbing him again and hard enough to make him lean over to dry heave between his knees.

"You okay?" Louis asked worriedly as Harrison righted himself before slouching back down in the seat. He watched as Harrison used the back of his hand to gently wipe away reams of sweat from his forehead and barely nodded.

"Just ... drive," was the final order given as Harrison closed his eyes and tried to rest his aching head against the plush seat. Pushed by adrenalin and anxious about the cargo in the rear seat, Louis Small did just that.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Mission accomplished, Steve allowed his eyes to close as alarmed shouts immediately increased in volume. Every second was critical. As footsteps thundered over head, he knew Kono would be first - after all, she'd been the one so many months ago brave enough to venture down into the active snake den to retrieve an entire refrigerator of antivenin product. Steve managed a weak smile, astonished that his lips were tingling and threatening to go numb. The Asian's first aid had been diligent and sound; Steve didn't doubt that the restrictive splint and the hand to shoulder bandage were key in keeping the krait's venom at bay. However, they were only delay tactics which could do only so much and, based on an unsettling array of new symptoms, Steve was soon going to lose their benefits.

He kept the tired smile though about Kono being the first to respond. And when it really happened and if he'd been able to breathe, he'd have laughed out loud when her dark head did appear in the doorway, her rifle trained directly at him until she quickly realized what she was doing.

"Boss!" Kono called out as she multitasked, taking the steps two at a time while shouting orders into her communications link. "Chin! I got them here downstairs ... come through the kitchen ... there's a door behind the pantry! Get the medics over here! _Now_ people! _Now_!"

Kono fell to her knees by Steve's side, one hand on Danny's shoulder, switching her attention between the two and stunned by the condition of both of her friends. "Shit. We came as fast as we could and you already can't breathe? How bad - what else is wrong, Steve? And Danny? What's wrong with Danny?"

"Yeah," Steve whispered hoarsely, his lips as numb as his fingers now. He meant his chuffed sound for Danny's sake, but Kono was intently focused on him until he made his message clear. " _D'nny. K'no ..._ "

"On it. They're coming, Boss. There's two guys in the main house ... Ray's dead," Kono said hurriedly, her normal desire to provide Steve with news a counterpoint to her fear.

"The other guy ... he's hurt but in custody. And Chin dispatched four HPD units to go after an SUV we saw leaving the property. I guess Ray's handler is on the run ... he won't get far," Kono added succinctly when she saw the extent of Steve's splinted wrap. Her eyes were saucer-like in her face when she realized she'd said something wrong but that he really couldn't speak enough to provide anything useful.

 _Other guy?_ Steve blinked almost stupidly into her face. _Two_? There had been three or really four ... Ray, his two henchmen plus the handler. One had been infatuated with the snakes, and the other in love with the concept of nearly tasing him to death. But now, Steve's face creased as if in pain because there even might have been _four_ men in total not including the handler. As he dimly recalled seeing a younger man greatly displeased by the goings on in the basement, Steve just couldn't be sure anymore.

"Shit, Steve," Kono murmured softly, disrupting his already jumbled thoughts. She grimaced because she was just able to feel a much too faint pulse beat in Danny's neck. "This is messed up." The detective was barely breathing and she glanced up the staircase urgently as the medics were shepherded down the flight, Chin taking up the rear.

"Hurry up!" She demanded. "Neither one of them can breathe!"

 _"H... hann'lr,"_ Steve slurred lazily, knowing that Kono didn't quite understand the slaughtered word. He meant Panit, the Asian snake handler, when he sensed that she had found the box of antivenin. He tried to offer an explanation for its appearance, but she readily accepted its existence without question, validated when she moved aside for the medics, handing the small box over to the one who hunkered down by Steve first.

"Can you use this now?" She asked while pointing to Steve. "He's the snake bite victim. And I guess its the same kind of snake as on the box ... can you use it now? He can't breathe! And ... Danny ... _God_ , Steve, was he bitten, too?"

'Nnnn ...' Steve's distressed hum of sound clearly indicated a resounding no about Danny having a venomous bite. He'd told Chin originally about what he'd find and what they'd need to get immediate help, but for some reason he couldn't remember if he'd mentioned the antivenin. Regardless, he could understand Kono's need to confirm what had happened based on what she was literally seeing for the first time.

"Not ... sure," one medic noted about Danny after a rapid assessment. He frowned as he checked under the bandage on Danny's bicep and saw the fang marks, yet heard Steve's adamant sound to the contrary. His mouth opened and then closed in confusion as he glanced questioningly first towards his partner and then again to the Five-0 Commander.

"He might have been, but it's not what could kill him now," the second medic interrupted, stethoscope hanging from his neck. "He's been badly beaten ... he's got no breath sounds on the left. Broken ribs. Punctured lung ... I need to get in there."

Incapable of expressing his approval, Steve tried to voice an order out of habit. He tried to explain that Danny's lung had indeed been punctured and failed. Anxious, he wanted to demand that they help faster but he hadn't realized he'd closed his eyes in exhaustion until he peeled them back open.

Their tight location was already virtually over run with competent help and he'd lost a serious block of time. Kono had moved off to the side, closer to Danny now and Chin was there, crouched lightly on the balls of his feet, staring intently into Steve's face. Usually calm and unflappable, Chin was practically vibrating with anxiety and worry.

"We lost you," Chin hastily explained when their eyes met. His expression was fraught with anger, apology and a healthy dose of concern, "Damned exchange ... our plans were shit, Steve. We totally lost you ... and Gibbons ... we did lose _him_. They played us good."

Steve managed a barely perceptible shake of his head. He wasn't sure it was entirely over just yet. What had happened up until that point though wasn't anyone's fault and it sure has hell wasn't Chin's to burden. Unable to properly argue that case though, Steve was forced to table any more on this particular point until later. Gibbons. Frankln Ray. They'd all been bested no matter how prepared they thought they'd been.

And now they had much higher priorities to contend with anyway. Eyes partly lidded, Steve turned his fading attention towards Danny. Two medics had efficiently moved his friend from where he'd been resting against his thigh. Tattered shirt now completely removed, one medic was virtually on his elbows as he made an incision between Danny's ribs to insert a chest tube.

He'd zoned out a few times in the last few minutes, but they knew ... _they knew more than enough_ to help his partner and Steve almost relaxed, but too much still had to happen and nothing was yet in their favor.

Steve stared helplessly past the hands who were affixing an oxygen mask to his face. He was oblivious to the blood pressure cuff wrapped around his arm or to the catheter being inserted into the crook of his arm. He was deaf to the incessant chatter between medics and hospital as they were directed what to manage in the field.

_Everyone had other priorities._

Trying to understand if Danny was still breathing for himself as his friend was intubated and gently transferred to a stretcher with Kono by his side, Steve was deaf and mute to the myriad of frightening reports about his own condition. He was barely aware of his vitals being assessed or of the blood pressure cuff fastened around his bicep, along with the multitude of monitoring leads and equipment he'd been hooked up to.

Focused on the medical team who surrounded his partner, Steve didn't hear or see anything beyond the small entourage double-timing it up the stairs to the first of the two helicopters for emergency airlift. He didn't come back to himself until his own medical team had transferred him to a stretcher and he was suddenly lying flat, his heavily bandaged arm secured to his side and the first drops of properly diluted antivenin dripping steadily through the intravenous line.

Only then, too, did Steve realize and appreciate that Chin had stayed with him.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	13. Chapter 13

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

In denial of the outside world and chin nearly resting on his chest, Steve sat vigil by Danny's bedside in the ICU. Completely oblivious to everyone around him and sometimes even his own needs, he hadn't moved in what would soon translate into days. Stuck on rewind, his brain fizzled an exhausting loop of fragmented memories embittered by sounds, images, the acrid scent of blood and the sour taste of vomit. He was coping with all of it - or so he told himself - except for the physical pain which had now become emotional. This pain was different and he had no way to deny it or certainly no ability to ignore it.

HPD had recovered the SUV just a few hours earlier. The crime scene unit had torn it apart from top to bottom, but what had been found shoved under the rear seat was telling and made Steve sick to his stomach. According to the doctors, the worst of Danny's injuries were the initial result of blunt force trauma and not from being beaten. Those injuries included the three broken ribs and a blow to the left side of his skull. The beatings came after and they only had made matters much, much worse for the detective. But the heavy lead pipe recovered from the SUV and then brought in for Danny's doctors to see had most definitely been the weapon used to take his partner down.

Further proven as such when minuscule remnants of dried blood were matched to Danny's DNA. Fingerprints were also found with a fast hit to a Louis Small. Nothing more than a two-bit, gun for hire, Small was originally from Atlanta, Georgia. When Steve saw the mug shots, he knew that Louis Small had been the lone man so reticent about being anywhere near the snakes. He was the one whom Steve hadn't exactly missed; but now, Small would be the one his team eventually found.

Louis Small, Panit Lau and Frank Harrison. Three men who were still out there somewhere and evidently smart enough - at least for the time being - to evade arrest.

"We'll get them, Danny," Steve whispered. "We'll get Gibbons too." Wearily, he opened his eyes to stare at his partner's lax face, squinting against the overhead fluorescent lights while leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. An unpleasant odor wafted towards him at the same time. Something from outside the room and so faint, Steve shouldn't have even noticed it at all. Yet he did and he grimaced unhappily as his brain forced him back into a terrible, imperfect loop again.

The faint smell dropped him squarely into that dank, musty environment and Steve tumbled down that rabbit hole almost expectantly. He lost perspective and in his minds' eye replayed the startled look on Kono's face when she appeared at the top of the stairs, rifle aimed directly at his very head. He could still hear the worry in her voice and Steve closed his eyes as the flood began in earnest.

Before Kono had found them, Steve had heard her. He'd heard his entire team clearing the first floor, room by room and he'd even allowed himself a brief moment to wallow in pride before trying to garner enough air into his lungs to shout for help. But that shout had never happened ... in fact, nothing had happened as the krait's venom paralyzed his diaphragm to jeopardize his breathing and wreak havoc on his respiratory system.

Even now, Steve was still able to admit just how scared he'd been because, in all honesty, he was _still_ that scared.

"Just what the hell are you doing inside that head of yours, Danno?" He asked senselessly. "Ray tried to scare you half to death and now you're doing it to me, buddy."

As Steve had begun to get well, Danny had taken a turn for the worse. For every healthy stride he had made, Danny had taken two backwards. Spontaneously, Steve gently leaned over far enough to touch the back of Danny's hand.

Dry, hot. Far too still.

"You're a contrary, stubborn pain in the ass," Steve whispered next. At first, the doctors had expected a full recovery despite the extent of his injuries. Once stabilized, Danny had even been taken off the ventilator in favor of an oxygen mask. True, their patient would require time to fully heal, nonetheless, their initial prognosis had been favorable. Only a short time later though, an infection had set in from the python's bite.

 _Dirty_ was the word used by Ray's snake handler and dirty it was despite the wound being judiciously cleaned and an aggressive series of antibiotics.

Then, that very morning, Danny had seen fit to show signs of pneumonia. Already very ill, if things worsened more, he would suffer a common complication which would further throw his system backwards into an even deeper critical state.

And through all of it, not once had Danny bothered to open his eyes.

Listening to the various mechanical sounds resident to the hospital room, Steve heaved in a deep breath, reveling in the freedom of that simple action without dissolving into a helpless fit of coughing. Danny hadn't been the only one of them to nearly die. Minutes from death's door, the antivenin had been started in the field. Despite that, there had been some major progression of the toxin before the cure had managed to kick in, so there was little doubt that Steve had still suffered for it, too. Because the antivenin had come with its own host of side affects and Steve was only now getting back on his feet.

Still miserable after his thirty-second hour of diligent care coupled with a balancing act of supportive oxygen, Steve was still taking the occasional anti-emetic for nausea or antihistamines plus corticosteroids to combat the residual reactions he was experiencing to the antivenin itself. He was still suffering from stomach cramps and dry heave or two. For all intents and purposes, despite a fancy boxed cure with a lovely label, Steve had been run through the mill and essentially spit out the other side, as an exhausted, battle-weary mess.

But Steve frowned as Danny stirred, his hand clenching and his face adopting an almost fearful expression. It had happened before and Steve had learned not to get his hopes up. As he watched though, a bead of sweat appeared along Danny's hairline, then another. As the machines hummed along, Danny's fingers opened only to tear nervously at the bedding and that ... well, _that_ was different.

"What's ...?" Steve started worriedly, until he quickly cut himself short in surprise. "No way." Eyebrows raised, he might have laughed at his overly sensitive partner had the situation not been so damned serious.

He saw it the same time he heard the complimentary long buzz and soft hiss of air and understood in a heartbeat. In seconds, Steve was on his feet and ripping the blood pressure cuff from Danny's arm. He knew precisely where Danny was inside his head ... and _when_. The footsteps behind him came astonishingly quickly as the floor nurse strode into the room, alarmed for her patient. Completely confused when she realized that the Five-0 Commander was at a fault for removing the important cuff.

"Sir? You can't take that off," the nurse argued softly. "It's automatically taking his readings and he's in a critical state."

"Get his doctor," Steve said calmly. He turned to face her, immobile and his order definitive as he virtually denied her access to Danny's bedside. "Get his doctor because you're all going to make an exception on this one thing. Or, you're going to find another way."

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

His dreams were filled with a behemoth of a snake. Brightly colored yellow and orange, it stayed coiled above his head, oddly suspended there and waiting to strike. Every so often, its tongue would flicker out from the black of its mouth, blood-thirsty as it sought Danny's scent and reveled in it. In his dreams, nothing existed except for the snake, its colors riotous and loud against a pitch black background. He was alone, with nowhere to go and no help to be found. No matter where the dream might pick up, it was always the same, too. He always lay stranded on his back, helpless and unable to move as over-sized reddened eyes twinkled angrily, staring down into his face with death a sure promise.

Danny moaned in fear, the snake suddenly a heavy weight sitting on top of his chest. _Waiting to strike._ A moment later though, a coil had wrapped around his mid section with another encircling his upper arm. The python's face now mere millimeters from his own and Danny's cry of fear died on his lips.

In his dreams, his eyes were opened and he couldn't look away or even say a word. Mesmerized in fear, Danny was caught up in the reptile's hatred as it reared back higher than before, its length elongating and its power rippling in a stunning display of colors.

Alone and shaking in fear, he knew what was coming next and was helpless to stop it.

"No," Danny murmured, his brow lined and skin covered in a sheen of sweat. "No. _Nonono_." The dream repeated endlessly and Danny was terrified because he couldn't escape. He couldn't get free and the dream always ended the same way: knowing what would happen and yet never being quite ready for it, Danny's rattled scream never made it past his lips as the snake struck with a lethal swiftness.

At the foot of his hospital bed, hands on hips and worried beyond measure, Steve stood stock still. He watched as Danny's muscles tensed from a fevered fear while the doctors fought to bring his temperature down. Danny had taken yet another turn for the worse and his fever had spiked to an all time high. His once stable condition had become guarded and the doctors were now loathe to do more than take every hour as it came.

Everyone was on edge; Steve most of all. Especially since he'd originally thought he'd won the argument about the blood pressure cuff. But what the doctors all agreed Danny needed now was much more invasive and it didn't matter if the doctors would have done it anyway. Instead of a regular cuff, Danny now had a new catheter placed in his wrist, splinted to keep it secure and his wrist immobilized. Described to Steve as an arterial line, it gave real-time readings on Danny's monitor.

But Steve saw it only as another _thing_ which tied his friend down and could cause more undo stress. In fact, there didn't seem to be a single part of Danny's body not touched by leads, intravenous lines, drains or some type of medical device. Under a light sheet, ice packs ranged his partner's bruised body from head to toe; something which Danny clearly objected even in his current unconscious condition. His left hand was bandaged, as was his right bicep. Hardly able to see Danny's face for the obtrusive oxygen mask, Steve's eyes dropped to the pinked bag hanging off the side of the bed. Even the unseen was in a horrific state as his badly bruised kidneys fought to heal from too many fisted poundings.

"How's he doing?" Steve asked by rote, knowing the host of likely answers because none of them had changed in hours now.

_He's a very sick man, Commander, but young ... and strong. He's holding his own, Commander. We're doing our best, Commander._

Steve knew all the replies, canned or not. Still, he inwardly winced when the doctor glanced up now, barely meeting his eyes before refocusing back on his patient while he voiced something Steve had heard countless times.

"There's no real change yet, Commander. But he's young ... he's holding his own."

"So far," Steve muttered resentfully under his breath, his eyes closing to maintain his stoic facade as Danny softly moaned and twitched again.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	14. Chapter 14

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

He woke alone, if waking was even the right word for it. It was after two o'clock in the morning and the ICU was hushed with a deep quiet. Danny opened his eyes unsure if he'd see snake or friend, or even just an endless darkness. Instead, he saw a hazy gray and white hospital room only dimly lit by the hallway's light, sparsely furnished except for two chairs and an impressive array of medical equipment.

If Steve had known, he never would have given in to the gut-churning spasms brought on by residual affects of the antivenin. As it was, he'd only left a few minutes earlier, clutching his stomach as if to hold back the roiling pain, for the common public restroom on the same floor unsure if the severe spasms would worsen into an all-out heaving spree. If he did wind up getting physically ill, doing that in the relative sanctity of the intensive care unit seemed just wrong.

Unaware that Steve was close by, albeit retching uncontrollably into a porcelain basin, Danny let his eyes skim lazily over everything without really seeing a single thing, only recognizing that he was in a hospital bed and incredibly sick. Bone-weary and as a weak as a kitten, he lay there for a time, just listening or catching the ghost-like glimpse of a shadow passing his doorway. His eyelids dipped tiredly as his body demanded sleep, but he managed to keep them open long enough after one of the ghostly shapes actually entered his room to stand at the foot of his bed.

Back-lit by the brightness of the hallway, Danny squinted up unable to see the man's face ... because it was a man. A male nurse Danny thought through the fog inside his brain.

"Detective Williams," the nurse murmured ever so quietly, a hint of a smile in the tone.. "It's so, so good to see you again."

Louis Small crept forward, silent in rubber-soled shoes. He'd been sent on a bit of a mission for the ailing Frank Harrison and, eager to redeem himself, Louis readily accepted the challenge. Plan A had already been easily accomplished. Gaining access to the hospital had been boringly easy from obtaining a uniform to getting credentials. Plan B? A multi-vehicle accident on the freeway had diverted much of the staff and only a few personnel were on the floor. Louis smiled widely as he stared down into the astonishingly naive and trusting face of the injured detective.

Again, this subsequent step had been almost too simple - though time was growing quite limited.

"You're still a bit messed up, aren't you _boy-o_?" Louis teased sarcastically as he quickly checked his watch. His eyes narrowed as he examined Danny from head to toe. Mentally tallying up just how poorly the man was feeling was an easy task based upon the unfocused gaze and oxygen mask alone. Alternately, while he didn't quite understand the machines, the sheer fact that the detective was housed in the ICU was telling enough.

"Where's McGarrett? Your watch-dog can't be that far away ... he's so worried about you - your welfare - he hardly ever leaves the hospital grounds let alone your side. So, Danny-boy, where is he? Where's McGarrett?"

Danny frowned, his brain slow to fully waking. He didn't really understand the soft conversation, only catching a word here and there like his name and then Steve's. He thought then that he should be alarmed by the nurse's attitude, but he simply couldn't find the stamina or even moisten his throat enough.

He tried though. Danny opened his mouth and tried to speak, but at first, all that came out was barely a sound at all. A raspy bit of noise completely swallowed inside the oxygen mask and the male nurse actually chuckled.

"Throat dry? You need a drink there?" Biting back his laugh when Danny murmured a questioning sound, Louis walked to the side table where he poured a cup of water and opened a drinking straw. He stood over the bed and cocked his head queerly to the side before he took the oxygen mask from Danny's face.

"Thirsty?" He asked with mock courtesy. He was finally in his element and his fingers itched in anticipation. Yet he held his ground and followed his orders. But Louis could do so many things at that very moment _. So, so many._ But his mission had been a test to see how far he could get - and that objective had been achieved with astounding results.

Harrison had been clear about his orders. _Get in and test the waters. Without drawing attention, take notes and memorize entrances and exits. Is there security? Is McGarrett there ... or any one at all from the task force?_

Louis's mission was one of gathering intelligence only. He needed to keep himself ingratiate to Harrison and then upwards to Angelo Gibbons. He needed a more permanent job and this continued to give him multiple ways to prove himself.

Still, he tossed his own options around as he gently fed the straw though Danny's lips and allowed him to drink. The detective was weak and barely aware of his surroundings. He hadn't recognized Louis Small which made the two-bit hood even more confident and cocky. Briefly lost in those thoughts, Louis almost apologized for missing when Danny weakly signaled he'd had enough.

" _Th-thanks_ ," Danny rasped on a tired exhale, his lashes fluttering wildly now as he battled to stay awake. "Who ... w-who are ...?"

"You're a polite one, aren't you? But I'm nobody at all ... just a nurse," Louis whispered as he replaced the oxygen mask with an ease that belied his real desires. "Let's put this back on now. Go back to sleep, Detective. This never happened. I was never here."

A check of his watch proved he'd been in the room for less than a full minute, uninterrupted. With the accident pulling all hands on deck, no one had seen fit to question him at all. Easy entrance, followed by a swift exit? It was impossible for Louis not to smile now as the Detective's eyes reluctantly slid closed.

 _Jesus_ , Harrison was going to be over the moon!

"Yeah, get some sleep, Detective. You need your rest ... to heal." As Danny murmured something unintelligible and his eyes drifted shut, Louis pulled out his cell phone and thumbed the camera utility on.

"Smile," he muttered happily as he took a full step backwards to boldly take a picture of the sleeping man as proof of his success. "I'll be seeing you again real soon."

Grinning wildly, Louis poked the screen to call up the image, pleased by its perfect clarity. The white sheets highlighted the injured man's bruised face and served an eerie counterpoint to the intravenous lines and brightly lit monitors. With a pleased flourish, Louis texted the image to Frank Harrison before turning on his heel and walking directly into a rock-solid fist.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	15. Chapter 15

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Louis Small never knew what hit him. First he was standing, grinning to himself while staring at the screen to his phone and celebrating a personal win and then, he simply wasn't. As the bridge of his nose shattered, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he was out before his knees even had time to buckle. His cell phone fell from his hand to skitter under the bed. Held up only by the material ofhis shirt collar, he never actually felt the next two blows.

Each was delivered with an anger he'd never experienced in his entire life. The first was an uppercut that snapped his head back for a second time. The next was knuckled brutally into his left temple. Completely unnecessary, but with a sneer born of absolute hatred, Steve then literally dropped the man. He watched him fall like a stone to the floor, knowing that Louis Small wouldn't be moving for quite some time.

" _Son of a bitch!_ Get the doctor in here now!" Steve snarled, whirling around to face an orderly who had shared his alarm at seeing an unknown face in the detective's room. Any residual nausea he might have been feeling was gone as temper and adrenalin got the better of him. Virtually now advancing on the orderly, for a moment, Steve didn't know what to do first.

"Where the hell is everyone? Security? How the hell did this man get in here!?"

"I don't know, but ... but, security's on the way," the orderly blurted out defensively about Louis's easy access, stunned by the Five-0 Commander's show of rage. Hands raised, he backed out of the room as Steve returned to Danny's bedside. He inhaled deeply to try and calm his rattled nerves while eyeing the fallen 'nurse'. Lying prone, blood was oozing steadily from Louis's nose to shine darkly on the linoleum. Short, raspy noises punctuated by a wet rattle could be heard from his partly opened mouth.

Trying not to stammer, the orderly addressed Steve's back as he turned towards where his friend lay in the bed. "And I already called for the doctor ... he's on this way, too. He's been helping out in the emergency room."

Not answering, Steve ran his hands over his face to scrub into his hair with a harsh pull, needing to will his temper back and settle his frayed nerves. He glanced once towards Louis's sprawled out body since the wetly gurgled gasps were disconcertingly loud. But as both security and medical staff descended on the room, he turned to focus solely on Danny.

"Ah, geez," Steve muttered with a sickish feeling in his heart when he spied the cup of water and the discarded bit of paper from the straw. He'd only returned in time to see Louis Small step back from the bed. At first thinking nothing of it, Steve had taken his time entering the room until the 'nurse' had taken his cell phone out. Even then he'd not considered anything truly off until the camera flashed ... and he'd heard the low, sardonic chuckle. He'd reacted instantly, attacking to protect and unable to control his anger when he'd finally recognized Louis Small.

But Steve had no idea that Danny had woken, let alone been able to drink some water.

"Danny?" Steve swallowed down his fear as he leaned over the bed, frantically searching for additional signs of harm or distress. His hands were shaking now from the spike in adrenalin, made worse by wondering if something more had gone on. His brain threatened to overload on valid concerns related to drugs, poison ... something deadly - anything fatal - which might have been tricked into Danny's already abused system.

"Open your eyes, buddy," he pleaded. "I know you're tired and feel like crap, but please try, Danno." He gently ran his fingers over a stray bit of hair, an excuse to feel if Danny's skin might be too hot, too cool or if he might be able to literally feel if he'd had been harmed in any way. No matter the normalcy of the rhythmic sounds of the machines which Danny was hooked up to, Steve felt along Danny's neck for his pulse beat next. Still feverishly warm, Danny merely murmured something under his breath though and Steve couldn't figure out anything more.

"What happened?" The doctor arrived breathless and harried. The small room was suddenly flooded with light as others showed up to help. The doctor only paused briefly to look questioningly at Louis Small, moving on when even more of his staff showed up with security. Pushing Steve aside, he simultaneously read monitors and began a quick physical check of his patient's state while peppering Steve with questions.

"What happened, Commander? Who is that man ... what was he doing in here?"

"That's one of the men ... _involved_ ," Steve replied in a monotone while motioning towards Louis. He cursed under his breath, all his ire still on the surface as hospital staff gently turned the man for triage, the loud wet gurgles punctuated by moans of pain. The sounds got the doctor's attention and he stopped to glance over until Steve clarified Louis Small's resume of sorts.

"Actually, Doc, he's the one who originally took Danny down with the lead pipe. He gave him the concussion and cracked his ribs," Steve virtually snarled the words into the doctor's face as frustration and worry continued to get the best of him. " _My God_ , how the hell did he get in here?"

" _He_ did it?!" The doctor exclaimed in disbelief. "That's the man who hurt him!?"

Behind them, Steve registered the conversation and blood covering Small's face and ignored it entirely. He did wince though, fidgeting and shaking his head while watching the doctor care for Danny, their eyes meeting as the physician showed his own state of alarm over the criminal's unlikely appearance in the ICU.

"Yeah and I found him in here alone. I'd only stepped out for a minute ... and I found him in here when I got back. He was taking a picture of Danny ... laughing as if he'd done something," Steve said, his voice rough with worry as pointed to the cup of water and small plastic pitcher. "Then I saw _that_ so I know that he gave Danny some water ... I don't know if the water's been tampered with ... and I tried, but I can't get Danny to wake up."

"He gave him water?" The doctor mused as he finished his assessment, finding nothing obviously wrong with his patient. His hands soothing as Danny stirred uncomfortably under his thorough examination. He was suddenly worried too about the unseen dangers which might now be a challenge to not only identify, but also to overcome. He sighed in frustration as he rechecked each monitor to find nothing amiss. Almost vainly then he tried to offer, not only the upset Commander, but himself some positive observations.

"So ... then, Danny had to have woken long enough; he'd have to be aware enough, too. It's ... a good sign," the doctor noted. He tried but wound up back-pedaling almost immediately when Steve grimaced about that, too. "But ... yes, we need to know what happened in here." He tried but he didn't yet understand that Steve was blaming himself for even having wandered away in the first place. The news of Danny's waking would have been good if not for the circumstances and the doctor hesitated to elaborate based on the Commander's level of concern and, frankly, now his own as he processed what could have happened. There was no doubt that the attacker was dangerous and he'd managed to break through the hospital's defenses. Now also on edge, he had to assume the worst for his patient and yet, nothing seemed different.

_At least, not yet._

"I'm not seeing anything outwardly wrong with him. His readings are unchanged and even though he's still running a fever, he seems relatively ... _fine_. As far as the water goes, we can certainly test that to be sure."

"Yeah, well ... thanks, Doc, but my team will be testing the water. It'll be faster," Steve flatly stated as his anger returned in spades. He yanked out his own cell phone, with every intention of first calling Chin Ho Kelly and then Charlie Fong from the Crime Lab. "I'm having our lab do a full tox screen on both the water in the cup and in the pitcher; don't let a single person touch anything in here. Your job is to do whatever you need to do for him. Blood tests ... vitals. Whatever you need to do to be sure!"

"You can count on that, Commander," the doctor quickly agreed. As concerns escalated around Danny where lay sleeping, the doctor made his own list of demands, doling out strict orders to his staff while he waited for Steve to finish his calls.

"We'll start now with blood tests and monitor his vitals every fifteen minutes," the doctor commented when Steve was able to give him his undivided attention. "That's easy and non invasive enough ... we'll come at this from every angle, Commander. Just to be sure - just to be on the safe side." The doctor hummed softly then, his face quizzical as Danny murmured something under his breath. The activity in the room, coupled with the bright overhead lights, seemed to be rousing his patient again.

"Try now." The doctor moved aside, motioning for Steve to come closer. "Why don't you see if you can wake him up in the meantime? He may be confused or even unable to share much, but if he can, it might give us both a better idea of what we're up against. But keep in mind, Commander, nothing might have been done to him at all and he's much too sick for an interrogation. Keep it brief..."

"I wouldn't ...," Steve seethed because he'd never endanger his partner, his anger now against the physician until he realized what the man was looking at. Wryly pursing his lips together, Steve nodded in understanding. His hands were tightly fisted and spots of blood dotted the whitened knuckles on his right, while his left hand nearly throttled his cell phone He needed to calm down, but he was worried beyond belief about Danny despite the doctor's initial findings and sensible approach.

"Yeah, I'm good," Steve said as way of apology while he heaved in a great breath, relieved when security and a small team of doctors and nurses finally got the unconscious criminal onto a gurney and then out of the room. Danny's doctor followed, promising to return after alerting the hospital's own lab about the urgency of his pending requests. While the hospital did their part, Chin would take the water to Fong and wait for the results of the toxicology panels personally.

Steve was officially done now. _Done_ with Franklin Ray, _done_ with Angelo Gibbons and completely finished with _anyone_ associated to them.

It was then that he remembered Small's cell phone. His expression changed entirely as he dropped to his knees in order to retrieve the device from under the bed. The mobile device was still active and unlocked, giving him free rein to access the images and read the last few text messages. He angrily thumbed by the picture taken of Danny only to sneer in disgust at the most recently sent messages followed by the brief celebratory reply.

"Frank Harrison," Steve muttered in disgust. "You're next ... and what a surprise you're going to be in for." Another incredible gift of a cell phone had been dropped into his hands. The devices were most likely burners and untraceable, but he now had a multitude of options. If he played it right though, there'd be no more wondering about needing to watch their backs or fearing a loss of control. With Louis Small in custody and Harrison none the wiser, Steve was already concocting a game of his own inside his head. Something wise and well-planned which would allow him and his team to manipulate this situation for their own good in order to bring in Frank Harrison, and possibly even Gibbons.

Placing the phone on the table near the cup of water, Steve's face lost any of its interest in those plans. He turned towards Danny and leaned over the bedrail so he could place his hand on his friend's shoulder. At his touch, Danny's face furrowed in confusion and he murmured once again, his voice completely muffled by the oxygen mask.

"Danno?" Steve called out softly. "Can you open your eyes, buddy?" Every second could still matter and the doctor needed to know more. Hell, _he_ needed to know if Louis Small had managed to do anything in the few minutes in which Steve hadn't been in the room.

"Danny?" Steve whispered gently. "It's important. Can you wake up for me? Just for a few minutes ... come on, buddy."

Dozing deeply, Danny frowned uncomfortably. The lights and the background noises in his room had been disturbing and despite a deep desire to just sleep, he couldn't really find that place. Half-aware, he heard Steve then even if he didn't understand the man's words. Sick and unwell, Danny's ability to string together thoughts was certainly no better than it had been just a few short minutes earlier.

Nonetheless, as Steve pressed him more, his voice soft but urgent, Danny managed to peek out from under his lashes.

"Hey," Danny whispered back as he struggled against the lights. "S'...up?" As before, he opened his eyes to a grayish haze of whites and blacks, but he recognized Steve immediately and tried to smile, his eyes brightening just a bit.

"Hey yourself," Steve whispered in utter relief as Danny's eyes fluttered open and settled on his face. There was zero doubt that Danny was sick. However, Danny recognized him and might even have been happy to see him and Steve swallowed hard, the worried lump in his throat back in all its glory even without venom in his system. "How ... how're you doing?"

The question was stupid at best and Danny even closed his eyes in a slow blink of sorts, but Steve wasn't sure where to start or what to ask. He was cognizant of needing to be careful and then content enough when Danny murmured a low affirmative even if it might have been a bald-faced lie.

"I bet you feel like crap," Steve chuffed out quietly. He kept his hand settled soothingly on Danny's shoulder, hating to ask anything of his friend as Danny's eyes began to slide closed much too soon. Feeling guilty, he leaned closer to pull Danny's eyes back to his own.

"Danno, I have an important question. The male ... nurse ... that was here ... what did he want?" Steve pressed carefully. "Do you remember what he wanted or what he said? Did he give you anything?"

Despite the calm, even keel of Steve's tone, Danny scowled tiredly. Something was wrong; something he might have even sensed of the male nurse himself and his lips twitched under the oxygen mask. He'd missed most of what the nurse had said, but he certainly hadn't seemed truly - _compassionate_.

"You," Danny managed to whisper. "Asked about you ... I think."

"Okay," Steve replied noncommittally. That made sense in many ways. "What else, Danno?"

The shrug under his hand was weak and equally unrevealing. "Was ... thirsty," he eventually murmured. "Water ... that's it."

Steve's eyes narrowed and he barely managed to hide the spike of fear which immediately tore into his stomach. Features quickly schooled to those which projected calm, on the inside, he was nauseous again and wanting to throw up right then and there.

"S'okay?" Danny asked tiredly. Even as his eyes began to droop, he saw the flitting changes across Steve's face no matter how fast the man had tried to hide them. "Steve ... _somthin_ ' wrong?"

"Nah," Steve said, his lips literally trembling as he tried to keep a normal smile plastered to his face. "Just ... he said you'd woken and I needed to see you."

"Oh," Danny breathed out, his eyes closing despite a new desire to stay awake and ask a few questions of his own. He was missing something or Steve was hiding something. He was too tired to push though. But as his eyes closed, the image of a snake still teased him behind his lids.

 _Steve ... and another snake_ ... and Danny argued himself, his lashes fluttering crazily as he searched Steve's eyes out. "You?" The one word coupled with the brief flare of fear was enough and Steve nodded more adamantly.

"Right as rain, Danno," Steve replied gently, his smile much more genuine and soothing. "I'm good. Really. Now you, you get some sleep ... I'm here buddy."

As Danny's eyes closed once more and he watched his friend fall asleep, Steve's expression fell back into one of intense worry. It was easier to talk about himself sometimes and he could put Danny's mind at ease. Now though, he desperately needed someone to do that for him.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	16. Chapter 16

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

 _"Plain, ordinary tap water,"_ Chin had said. He'd been excited when he'd called - ecstatic even. _"That's all, Steve. Water. Plain water. He's good ... Danny's okay. I'm going to swing by the hospital and stay awhile ... maybe you'll get some rest now?"_

Steve hadn't exactly answered Chin about getting some rest even though it was now dawn and the sun was on the rise outside. He'd been on his feet for hours and was feeling it. Chin knew that and was strongly implying that he leave the grounds. _Go home to sleep_ when they both knew the sentiment was merely a nice one at best. While he'd certainly welcome the company, Steve would be staying.

Instead of taking Chin up on that offer, Steve excused himself from Danny's side the moment Chin called from the lab with those blessedly boring results.

_'Normal. Nothing, Steve. Zero traces of anything unusual as far as tap water goes. Danny's not in any danger."_

With an HPD detail already in attendance and his stern demand that they stay alert, Steve turned on his heel and left the room quickly. He knew that Chin meant well, but Steve was still on edge and danger was in the eye of the beholder as far as he was concerned. So instead of doing anything else, he swung by the nurse's station and had the doctor paged in order to share the news. Then, it was as if a weight had been lifted from everyone's combined shoulders. The rush of tension leaving was virtually palpable.

But while Steve was beyond relieved, he hadn't found _happy_ just yet. Instead, the delivery of that good news was when his body had decided to remember it was still sick, too. That it was still recovering and needed a well-deserved rest of its own. So, he excused himself for a brief respite away from the ICU with pains in his stomach and an uncomfortable feeling in the back of his throat.

It was the doctor who caught him retching in the bathroom. He actually caught him coming out of the small room, face flushed red and skin dotted with sweat. He stopped Steve by simply refusing to move and cornering him against the wall, knowing that the man's only excuse was that everything was - and had to be - all about his partner. Not him ... but his partner and his well-being.

The news they'd both received was excellent. However, Steve was not quite up to par just yet and he'd nearly been forgotten in the shuffle. Nearly ... certainly not _entirely_ based upon the doctor's not so fortuitous arrival.

"You followed me?" Steve asked as that fact dawned on him. "Just now ... you followed me to the restroom?"

"How long have you felt like this, Commander? Better yet, how many times have you gotten physically sick?" The doctor retorted. "You know ... none of us are experts in venomous snake bites. It was damned lucky that your _felon_ was benevolent enough to manage your field care so well - not to mention was diligent enough to actually carry the antivenin on his person."

The physician started and then stopped himself from what he was going to say next. Instead, he slightly changed course to get to the heart of the matter: Steve as his erstwhile patient. "We all can read and the label clearly stated nausea and vomiting as side effects. The calls which I made myself to those who do have more experience, said the same. Excessive sweating and flushed skin are additional effects ... therefore, I'm a bit concerned right now by what I'm seeing."

"I appreciate that, Doc. My stomach's been a bit unsettled," Steve admitted. "But I do feel better and I really need to get back to my partner." He made an aborted attempt to squeeze past the older man, but his exit was neatly blocked and he sighed, throwing his arms out wide in a plaintive gesture. "Okay. Okay. How about an anti-emetic, Doc?"

"That's fine, Commander. That's not a problem at all," the doctor agreed. "However, I'd like a bit more from you. Lieutenant Kelly is doing a fine job right now and Danny is being closely monitored," he stated calmly, arms folded over his chest.

"He's here already?" Steve blurted almost stupidly. He wondered then just how long he'd been uncomfortably cloistered inside the small tiled bathroom.

"Yes, the lieutenant is here - as is the HPD detail stationed at the front door to my ICU, Commander," the doctor said. "I'd say that no one will be getting in or out for quite some time. Now though, tell me ... how many times have you thrown up?"

"A couple. Two ... maybe three," Steve finally said with a reluctant shrug. "But I'm really fine, Doc. I have no intentions of leaving the hospital until this is really over."

"No. No, you're really not," the doctor said as he held his ground. "And frankly, I'm quite happy you said that - about not leaving the hospital that is." It sure hadn't taken much for the physician to put two and two together as to why Louis Small had been lucky enough to find the detective's room empty. If it had been a mistake, such a thing certainly wouldn't be happening again. He understood and could easily take care of two birds with one well-intentioned stone, so to speak.

"You're going to get your anti-emetic and then some. Come with me. There's a nice reclining chair in your friend's room. You'll be putting your feet up for the next few hours."

Idly rubbing his stomach from left-over aches, Steve followed almost repentantly on the doctor's heels. As far as compromises went, it wasn't a bad one at all.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Chin stood in the corner of the room, arms folded and silent while watching the staff cater to his superior. The younger man looked like death warmed over and that wasn't precisely what he'd anticipated. He knew Steve would be tired, but this? No. He hadn't expected him to look washed out, pale now that the nausea was abating.

He watched quietly as Steve rested his head back as the comfortable chair was reclined for him and a nurse checked the fluids he'd been hooked up to for the next hour.

Exhaustion. Stomach cramps and nausea. Vomiting and of course, the inevitable dehydrated state. It was an impressive laundry list for a man supposedly healed and released from the confines of a hospital.

Chin's eyes went from the scene in the corner over to Danny. He was even more pale than his partner and significantly weaker. Danny had woken again when Chin had first arrived, looking for Steve, but pleased to see him. Increasingly more alert, Danny had easily accepted that Steve was taking a well-deserved break; though in reality, Chin hadn't known where Steve was at the time.

While alone, Chin had done most of the talking. Calm and steady, he hadn't mentioned anything about Louis Small or the frightening incident over the water. Danny's energy waned quickly, along with his ability to sustain any type of conversation. As he watched from his post now, he was mildly amused to see that Danny was trying to watch the goings on by Steve, but failing as a round of pain medications tamped down those attempts. A moment later, his eyes had closed and he seemed to once again be sleeping. It was a concerning cycle. From what Chin was able to glean from the latest reports though, Danny's fever had lessened greatly over the last few hours despite everyone's rabid concerns. In fact, as everyone rallied around him to ensure his safety, he'd made steady progress in the right direction.

Unconsciously, Chin heaved in a lungful of air, expelling it bit by bit as he glanced towards Steve, pleased to notice that he was already looking better.

"You can see him now," the doctor said to Chin of Steve on his way from the room. "Try to keep him where he is. Please."

Chin snorted a short laugh under his breath, a grin lifting his expression from his doldrums. He walked over to Steve, his grin widening when the younger man rolled his eyes and pointed to the intravenous line.

"This was the doctor's idea," Steve complained lightly. "Evidently, one of the reasons I felt so great was because I managed to get myself dehydrated. But he said Danny was doing better ... fever's down."

"Baby steps," Chin agreed. "We talked a bit - he's got a road ahead of him though, Steve. He needs his rest - and frankly, so do you."

Steve grinned ruefully up into Chin's face at the well-intentioned reprimand. But it was true and he needed to be on his game, so he simply nodded in agreement.

"So tell me," Chin said softly. He dropped his voice intentionally to avoid disturbing Danny, concerned if he might be overheard by accident. "Before we stop talking - because we will so you can sleep - what's the game with Harrison?"

"Oh that?" Steve replied with a devilish smile. "That's already started, Chin, and the ball is currently in Harrison's court. At least, he thinks it is. _Louis_ texted him while you and I were waiting on Charlie's results."

"And what did _Mr. Small_ have to say?"

"Well, _Louis_ is a bit tired it seems and he took the night off, as well as the rest of the day. He might even take tomorrow, too," Steve replied with a smug smile as he waggled Louis Small's cell phone in one hand. "Lying low for a bit in case he was seen."

"How did Harrison take that news?" Chin asked in surprise. "Any problems? Because Steve, that's a big chunk of time!"

"The man was perfectly fine with it _because_ it seems he's also a bit under the weather," Steve said blandly. His eyebrows lifted comically as he delivered that small bit of important intel. Evidently their altercation in Franklin Ray's old mansion had left Harrison at quite a disadvantage. And while he couldn't quite figure out where the man was holed up, every bit of information only served them more.

"Frankie's going to text Louis back in a day or two - when he's on his feet - and when his plans are better defined."

"That gives us plenty of time then," Chin remarked as he put two and two together. "He'll never know what hit him, will he?"

Steve's smile slowly morphed into a nasty sneer, his eyes meeting Chin's in determination. "He wanted me? Well, he's damned well going to get me."

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	17. Chapter 17

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Steve had the perfect plan. His short stint as Louis Small hadn't experienced a single glitch. Texted messages were shared without much regularity, however they were consistent in both tone and tenor.

He was to wait. _Wait_ for further instructions and gather intel. _What was the general health of each man? Where were they? Had either been released? Was there any opportunity to strike on the near horizon?_

Through these exchanges, Steve had learned that Harrison had a bad concussion and needed more time to heal in order to get back on his feet. He estimated another twenty-four hours as Panit catered to his medical needs. In the meantime, _Louis_ was tasked with keeping his ear to the ground. As such, he shared that McGarrett had been released from the hospital. He learned that the detective, though moved out of the ICU, remained hospitalized and for reasons which _Louis_ could only describe as obsessively neurotic, an HPD detail had been dispatched to guard the ailing man.

Steve thought everything he'd arranged as the perfect plan. Not only was it ironclad and predictable, he was in complete control. He also protected Danny by planting the seed of the protective detail, alternately making himself easily accessible. He thought it was beyond ingenious. Danny, however, hated it.

"It's a stupid, stupid idea," Danny argued as he leaned against the rail in the hospital's second floor corridor. "You can't make assumptions like this ... Gibbons is too good. Steve, I don't like it."

Steve grinned, but it wasn't really with any distinct feeling of humor. Even though they were dealing with Harrison, his boss was too good. They'd already learned from experience that anything could happen.

"It's the perfect plan," Steve argued back. "Harrison owns this because he failed ... as Third under Gibbons, he can't afford to not want to fix this himself. We're flushing him out in a controlled environment and he'll be in custody so fast, his head will spin."

"I completely resent you thinking that you're the fix in this," Danny muttered angrily. "It's too dangerous! It's not right ... and then ... me. You intentionally pulled him off _me_ by having a detail here and then sharing that with the man!"

"Yeah, so?" Steve stated. "That would be the point, Danny. Plus, when it comes to me, I've plenty of backup." He shrugged then, his proprietary expression clearly including a subtle fondness. Of all the things so far, this made the most sense. Danny was slow to heal and just barely on his feet. In fact, the wheel chair was just a few feet away as he leaned against the wall with only one hand capable of holding the rail.

"You've had enough for today," Steve said as he put his hand out to support Danny's elbow, ignoring the withering look tossed his way. Chin had been right all along about the long road to recovery; something which Danny already resented. Just four shambling steps left his friend a wrung-out, exhausted mess. As they stood there, side by side, Steve could feel the tremble beginning. Danny simply couldn't be a target; not when he was as weak as a kitten.

"I don't like it," Danny muttered under his breath. "Not one bit, Steve."

"Oh come on! It makes sense and you know it," Steve insisted as Danny ignored his advice to object the ongoing plan to bring in Harrison. "He's going to take a chance - a bad one for him - and we'll be ready for it."

But Danny shook his head to disagree. His senses were tingling in warning. While Steve's plan sounded good on paper, it felt wrong in the translation. Unhappy and tense, Danny had to briefly stop speaking as his energy began to dwindle to nothing. Still, he couldn't dislodge a sharp pang of fear which was growing inside his chest. It rivaled the deep ache in his arm and all the others which reminded him how badly injured he'd been.

"Danny ... enough for today," Steve chuffed in exasperation as Danny carefully slid one foot forward. His partner was beginning to breathe hard and his face had taken on a worsening pained expression. Evidently though, he planned to push harder that afternoon and it was bound to be a mistake regardless of doctor's orders to walk as much - within reason - to avoid the onset of pneumonia.

"In a minute," Danny ground out, teeth clenched as sweat beaded his forehead. He was tired and he needed to sit. But also needed to exercise. Even though the doctors would agree with his partner that their patient had done quite enough for that day, it was a terrible balancing act in Danny's mind. Less wasn't more and he wanted to go home. And today, his feelings were worsened because he seriously didn't want to go back to his room as that ping of a morbid danger spiked a sickly feeling of adrenalin.

"Damn it," he whispered, eyes closed as he leaned even more heavily into the wooden rail. Adrenalin or not, he had no stamina or wherewithal to force his body to cooperate.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked when Danny's face changed and he wobbled in place.

"I need to sit," Danny admitted. "But, not back to the room. Out. I want to go outside."

"Consider it done," Steve replied as he toed the wheel chair closer and then guided Danny down. He'd relieved the HPD detail for the lunch hour with every intention of spending that hour with Danny. With the last texted exchange once more confirming Harrison's health as a bit negligible at best, he felt that his role as Louis Small would continue at least for another day. Then, things would begin to come to their ugly head.

What neither he nor Danny knew was that Angelo Gibbons had grown angry and impatient. Separate conversations were going on much more regularly between Gibbons and his trusted Third. While he still valued his Third very much, Gibbons also knew that Harrison was injured and at a severe disadvantage. With Franklin Ray's plans ruined and the man dead, Gibbons preferred not to wait, nor rely on any other person's methods except his own. His compromise was simple and entirely self-serving. Harrison could save face and have in on the final steps to finish off McGarrett, but his role would be greatly reduced to nothing more than that of providing a distraction. He'd be protected by Gibbon's, but tasked with merely being a rabbit of sorts - a decoy - in order to flush McGarrett out when he'd least expect subterfuge.

These were plans entirely concocted between the two men. There was no need for anyone else to know; especially, the likes of Louis Small, who by default, was then ignorantly positioned as purely expendable.

Nothing had gone wrong in Steve's mind at all until the very minute when he now wheeled Danny outside to the hospital's pretty courtyard for some well-deserved fresh air. The courtyard was well manicured and partly shaded. Intertwined by a series of paved walkways, it was a shortcut to another section of the hospital and was used by staff just for that very reason. But there were a few patients sitting here or there in the shade, or even walking slowly to take advantage of a few more enjoyable minutes away from their rooms.

Beyond, the farthest section of the courtyard bordered the busy, main visitor's parking lot. Still, for the volume of activity taking place, the area was mostly quiet and could be private enough. It was peaceful and everything was normal and completely benign until Steve wheeled Danny out though the double doors and aimed him towards the shadier section of the courtyard. Oblivious at first, they took a lighter traveled path towards the parking lot. But it was here that Steve's original plans began to unravel bit by bit as all hell broke loose when they'd both least expected it.

"Wait!" Danny saw Frank Harrison first and was momentarily dumbstruck, his left hand grappling for the chair's wheel to stop their forwarded momentum. "Steve! I don't believe it," he gasped softly. "Harrison is here … in the parking lot. Two o'clock; near the light pole."

"What the hell is he doing here," Steve said, eyes narrowed as he squinted into the sunlight. "Yeah, it's him." He looked around quickly and didn't see anyone else. He barely registered the group coming up behind them, the bobbing colorful bouquet of balloons and then the laughter which was almost drowning out his thoughts.

But he only got as far as touching his back pocket to get his cell phone to call for assistance when the barrel of a gun was shoved into the small of his back. Stunned, Steve realized that the balloons were now gathered over him and Danny, their colors being rudely tied to Danny's wheelchair. The congenial friendly tones surrounded them, though nothing at all was pleasant about it.

"What the hell," Steve ground out. He froze on the spot as the tell-tale muzzle of a weapon found his back, one hand still touching the material of that pocket and the other wrapped possessively around the handle of the wheelchair.

"Don't move," a stranger's voice whispered in Steve's ear with the utmost of calm and a happy lilt. "Don't turn around. If you try anything your partner will die. Right here … right now."

As if validating the threat, there was the softest of clicks. A bullet being readied into the chamber of a second weapon and, out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw the lethal shadow aimed at the back of Danny's head. There were more. Three, possibly even four men surrounded them now and without looking, Steve knew that they'd be dressed as hospital staff or patients, or even HPD officers.

He groaned under his breath when he turned his head just enough to see the dark blue of a uniform. _HPD then._

"I knew it," Danny murmured so softly that Steve only heard him. " _Goddammit_. I knew it!" He'd turned just enough as well to at least register what Gibbons had managed to do. Again. They'd been momentarily bested once more.

Steve didn't dare glance fully to his left or to his right, instead he stared at the glint of blonde in Danny's hair which was reflecting the brightness of the sun. The shadows from the balloons flickered over them both. It was a good ploy; impressive in fact.

As he stood motionless in a frightening tableau of riotous color and danger, Danny wasn't moving either. In fact, he was barely breathing and literally oozing tension. Regardless of the stitches in his palm, the fingers of his left hand strangled the wheelchair's narrow armrest. Those on his right rested in his lap because his bicep was still incredibly sore and he was loathe to move that arm at all. But that hand was in a white-knuckled fist and beginning to shake from stress.

"Easy, easy. Let me handle this," Steve whispered ever so softly as Danny's body shifted slightly and he head the low grunt. His partner was in no condition to do a single thing and yet, he was primed to try.

"I don't have to ask what - or should I say _who_ \- you want," Steve boldly announced as metal pressed into his back. He grimaced in pain as it dug in a bit deeper, the bite increasing. The men encroached on their space, shielding them greatly from view and beginning to force them forward. In fact, Steve itched to do something as the wheelchair edged a few inches along. Resolutely, he held his ground, his fingers tight around the bar as he tugged the chair back towards his own body.

"But you're not going to do anything here in public. That would just be plain stupid." Ready to fight, Steve quickly surveyed their surroundings. Two parents were the closest and sitting quietly with their little girl under the shade of a tree. The child was a patient no doubt based on her tiny attire which mimicked Danny's down to the thin disposable slippers; her parents faces smiling but drawn and tired looking.

"It would be - for you - because there are so many innocents, so very close," the voice said conversationally. "That little girl for one. Her parents? And then, over to the left ... the nurse and that handsome orderly. A couple I'd say. Cut off in just the very beginnings of what looks like a very sweet rendezvous. With all of these very _stupid_ reasons, so very close, yes ... it would be _stupid_ , Commander."

Danny inhaled sharply, regretting it immediately as he failed at stifling a pained, hitched cough. As the man spoke, his eyes flew left and then right, counting heads and fearing the significant collateral damages. They were drawing attention, but all the wrong kind. The little girl was pointing towards the balloons in glee.

Smiling. _Giggling_. And Danny watched in horror as one of the shadowed men behind him had the absolute gall to wave back.

One innocent would be too many and yet, he knew that he and Steve would both die once they left the property. Gibbons would win. They needed time. Something to buy time, but he could hardly stand and he had nothing at all at his disposal.

He tried to think of something as a nurse hurried past them, bypassing their small group as if nothing were wrong, opting for the grass when she lacked room to make her way towards the parking lot. Feasibly running out to her car for something she might have left there. For that short second, she'd been much too close and Danny's mind played terrifying scenarios as he envisioned her falling, white soled shoes shining in the sun as blood christened her back.

"Then, think of your partner. He's still on the rocky road to recovery and anything could happen."

"Easy," Steve murmured again as he looked down. Seated below him, Danny coughed again. Dry, tight and with a definite note of pain. His hands were noticeably shaking and sweat had begun to soak into the collar of the thin material of the hospital's pale blue robe.

"Steve," Danny coughed out, his worry amplifying as he watched one of their attackers casually walk over to the little girl. He watched in fear as the man knelt down, perfectly uniformed, black shoes spit-polished to a bright shine in order to present her with a blue balloon. Danny was mortified as the girl's parents thanked him while he then had the utter audacity to gently ruffle the girl's hair before he stood.

When he turned though, his eyes were completely rock-hard and emotionless as he stared Danny down on his return trip.

Behind him, the voice was still calmly talking over his head and Danny's stomach twisted in panic. He was helpless as the next order was given and Steve promptly declined to obey.

"Which is why, Commander ... you're going to let go of the chair, step away from your partner, and come along quietly."

"Not likely," Steve retorted as he welded his fingers even more tightly around the rear handle of the wheelchair. Their odds were poor and once they were separated, if that might be the plan, then there'd be no odds left at all. Especially for Danny in his current condition. No, he needed to find a way to stop what Gibbons was trying before the situation worsened. But he only had scant minutes to figure that out without hurting others in their vicinity. He glanced up through his lashes towards the parking lot. Now he saw the large white van which Harrison loitered near and Steve shook his head in absolute refusal as the man used the muzzle of the gun to once more make his point.

"No? Well, Angelo thought you'd say that and demanded no mistakes this time. So we came prepared," the voice hissed at the same time Steve felt a needle plunge into the side of his neck.

It felt like a bee sting and his hand reflexively flew up to rub the skin on his neck. Oddly, Steve didn't black out. Instead, as he tried swing around in a futile attack, his knees dipped and his vision swam. Two sets of hands hoisted him higher and an order was given for him to walk. Which he did, assisted as he was across the last few feet of the path until he stumbled off the curb and found himself disturbingly at the rear of the van.

"So, nice to see you again, McGarrett," a familiar voice slyly noted. Neck wobbling awkwardly, Steve looked up into Frank Harrison's sadistically happy face. He had no choices, yet still Steve tried to fight as the doors opened just enough for him to be pulled into the darkness inside.

" _St_...!" Danny tried to object loudly when Steve was pulled away from him. He started to talk just as he was back-handed across the side of his face and his voice was effectively cut-off. The man who'd hit him had a ring on which cut into his cheek and stunned, Danny shakily raised his fingers to test the warmth which flooded across his skin, surprised when he found nothing. At least not yet.

"We'll be missed," Danny said warningly. He glanced towards the van, and then to the number of witnesses. Someone would notice; even if it might be his own doctor. "You won't get far ... not far at all."

"Really?" The man who'd hit his cheek knelt down as if talking to him, a humorless smile on his face as he balanced on his toes in front of where Danny sat in the wheelchair. He examined Danny from head to toe and then with a methodical ease, he pressed his fingers _hard_ into the bandage on Danny's arm.

" _F-fuck,_ " Danny choked as he tried to shirk away. The man purposefully pressed his fingers directly into the python's bite wound, tearing stitches and Danny gagged on the bitter taste of bile as pain flooded his system. Under his robe, the red stain of fresh blood began to dot the once pristine bandage.

"I hear your ribs aren't much better," the man murmured, his smile plastered evilly to his lips. "Here? Is this where it hurts ... the most?"

His fingers left Danny's throbbing arm to probe his injured left side and Danny reeled where he sat while his ribs literally creaked, his vision dimming as he blinked back a swarm of reactive tears.

"Now, now, Danny ... stay with me. It's not that bad. Is it?" The man's free hand warmly coddled his neck to help him stay upright and even ground him to avoid the dead faint which threatened so quickly. "Or, is it really?" The fingers slowly stopped their painful investigation and withdrew. Still the agony lingered and Danny forgot how to breathe, a very real fear making his mouth gape open in stunned silence as he struggled for air.

"Lesson learned? We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves now do we?" That same authoritative voice whispered in Danny's ear as the man who'd been kneeling, smoothly rose to his feet. "Keep your mouth shut, Detective. I'm more than willing to make this as ugly as necessary ... it's your choice."

He paused then, allowing the stricken detective to watch the two uniformed police officers escort his partner across the parking lot. They looked like a normal official team going about their business to the uninitiated eye. Only he - and likely the detective - could see the ungainly gait on the Commander or the way circumspect hands guided him along.

"And there we have it," Gibbons' man said as waited longer to ensure no one was heeding his men much mind until the Commander disappeared from view. Pleased, he sucked his lip between his teeth and smiled as the van's engine puttered softly to life and the left the parking space. As it moved, the official looking HPD _**D.A.R.E. TO RESIST DRUGS** _ logo was visible and he heard the detective's stunned inhale which resulted in yet another brief coughing spasm.

"Shall we? There's plenty of room for everyone," he oozed happily as he began to roll Danny along the what remained of the courtyard's path. They'd meet at curbside pickup. Blatantly out in the open and simply ... leave.

Uniformed, they only held enough attention in that regard and a patient with a happy, bouncing bouquet of colorful balloons at curbside, was after all, simply a patient going home.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	18. Chapter 18

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Panit stepped guiltily away from the ancient landline phone booth down at the marina. He stood in the hot sun, letting its heat bake into his skin while he looked around, suspicious and worried that he'd been seen. Worse yet, that he'd been overheard calling 911 with an anonymous tip about both Frank Harrison and Angelo Gibbons. He hadn't meant to get caught up in this larger scheme owned by a terrifying mainland mobster. He'd merely been approached and hired by Doctor Franklin Ray, a seemingly above-board and intelligent man who shared his love of snakes.

The Asian handler had been woefully ignorant though about Ray and his true intentions. The same was true about the two men he'd inadvertently found himself teamed up with.

Bad men. _Evil_ men who only had money, power and murder on their minds. And while Panit was not a pristine human being by any stretch of the imagination, he didn't wish to get even more immersed in their terrible dealings.

He'd taken care of a sick Frank Harrison, using a combination of learned homeopathy and basic over the counter medicines. He'd cared for the deadly pit viper, as well. But despite his skills, the snake had died. Panit didn't understand the snake's death and he wound up assuming that the reptile had been grievously mishandled and unable to adapt to its ever-changing environment. The viper's death was disturbing; a bad omen. Something like this had never happened to Panit before and he had grown very uneasy. Even afraid.

He had no purpose now with the likes of Frank Harrison. He didn't fit or have a comfortable niche to fill.

Panit had no cause at all.

He had no reason to stay and certainly no desire. Left alone that day when Harrison solidified his plans per Angelo Gibbons' orders, it hadn't taken Panit long to make a decision. He would make his anonymous call and then leave. He would find a freighter and he'd return to his home and he would certainly never look back.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Steve actually giggled when Louis Small's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Partly sprawled on the floor of the van, hands bound over his head to a conveniently placed metal bar, he truly ... giggled.

Whatever drug he'd been given morphed his muscles into something like Jell-0. His head lolled sloppily on his neck and yet, he managed to look at Frank Harrison as he drove the van towards the front of the hospital. Harrison's profile was a haloed blur as was the neighboring man's silhouette in the passenger seat, but Steve knew Harrison was holding a cell phone while he drove slowly through the parking lot. The felon had speed-dialed Louis Small, likely to make demands and give orders and while the device vibrated in Steve's pocket, Steve snorted though his nose.

The third man, the other fake HPD cop, sat in the back of the van with him and he glanced at over to Steve with mock amusement.

"Good drug, that one? Eh?" He muttered, the sneer on his lips ruining any humor. "Enjoy the high while you can ... Mr. Gibbons is personally going to wipe that smile off your face soon enough. In fact, he's going to be thrilled that we got not only you, but your partner."

Despite the threats which the words conveyed, Steve giggled again while the fake cop rolled his eyes towards the van's plain roof. In fact, Steve suddenly found the situation he was in incredibly funny. Harrison's face was a whitish-blue blur ... and as for the halo? A felon with a halo was beyond Steve's own ability to stay serious, let alone quiet.

"Where the hell are you?" Harrison snarled into the phone, angrily tossing it against the dashboard. He glanced towards the man in the passenger seat, anger making his eyes sparkle dangerously. "Damned incompetent! Where the hell is he? Small is supposed to be waiting for my orders!"

"In my pocket. Small," Steve snorted again, the goofy smile only compounding the glazed look in his eyes which made Harrison completely ignore him. "Small. He is," and Steve's eyes watered at his own joke. "He _is_ small ... right?"

"This is going to be one damned long ride," the fake cop drawled as he pounded his fist on Steve's knee. "Shut up! That's the stupidest, damned thing I've ever heard!"

But as the other fake cop in the passenger seat scooped up Harrison's phone to do the same, Steve shook his head, the goofy grin permanently plastered across his face. He sniffed and choked as he tried to focus on the blur in the front seat. It was nearly impossible though as his vision sparkled, grayed and rotated in cycles of brilliant hues which only made the halos around the men glow larger. He chortled again through his nose. Another fist pounded his knee and a hand bitch-slapped him _hard_ across the face. Tears prompted by laughter tracked down Steve's face even as he was slapped for a second time, but he didn't feel anything at all. With his body pleasantly numb, he couldn't help barking out his laughter when his pocket vibrated again.

Outside the van and in the last few feet of the courtyard, another unpleasant scene was playing out. Head bowed and eyes wedged tightly closed, Danny had practically wrapped his arms around his abdomen while he tried to wheeze air into his lungs. He could hardly move, but he sensed that the van was running parallel to his small group. He sat there helplessly as Gibbon's men wheeled him calmly out of the courtyard and onto the main sidewalk which would eventually wrap around to the front of the hospital. There, he knew that the van would be just be rolling up to wait for them. It wouldn't take long then. He'd be loaded in next to Steve and they'd both disappear ... for good.

"Do you need another reminder?" Danny flinched at the words, their threat compounded when the hand of the man who'd just hurt him fell to his shoulder. He was walking by his side and Danny was warned to stay quiet as nails dug through the light robe into his skin. The warning irked him no end and spurred a flame of anger. But with his eyes still closed and a desperate need to simply breathe as his lungs labored against both stress and pain, he was momentarily incapable of acting.

"Wait here," the man who was pushing the wheelchair said. "Let's not rush things now."

Danny opened his eyes as their pace slowed to a stop, blinking wildly as the brightness of the sun hurt his eyes. He couldn't stop shaking from adrenalin and his breathing was off, but Danny dug his own nails into the palm of his hand to force himself to focus. The van was indeed just pulling up in the queue where visitors and patients were either being left off or picked up. No doubt, the van's driver would wait until a convenient spot was to be had; one where they not only could acquire their quarry quickly, but also leave promptly.

He needed to do something and fidgeted in the wheelchair. The motion pinged his chest and his next inhale caught in his throat. Danny couldn't help the dry cough that rattled his chest so much so that his eyes watered. He shakily palmed them, wiping away moisture and sweat. Once the van parked, his small group would come up on a very crowded portion of the sidewalk and he was fast coming to a very real point of no return. If he could find the wherewithal to do anything, he certainly needed to do it sooner rather than later. Danny carefully shifted his feet, inching them towards the small open gap where he might be able to get to his feet. He'd nothing to use and no one to rely on, so he'd have to use himself as his own best weapon if he had any hope at all. If that's what it took, then so be it.

"Ready to go ... _home_?" The dangerous tone was soft and Danny involuntarily shook his head as the voice interrupted his frenetic planning. "The ride might be a bit tough on you ... but when you get _home_ , things will get sorted out. You can rest. Forever in fact." The man by his side chuckled and patted his shoulder condescendingly before he once again tightly gripped his shoulder, but Danny's head was swirling now as he weighed his limited options.

He looked around, left and right, frantically searching for some kind of avenue for help. Danny shifted his feet just enough to bring them even closer to easing off the foot rests of the wheelchair. He didn't see a single person he knew. He only saw bystanders, who would all soon be victims if things turned down a more deadly track, but he desperately needed to draw the right kind of attention to himself.

Danny froze in place when the man next to him suddenly laughed, his tone falsely apologetic. He froze, afraid to move as the man's body blocked the light and he stepped aside for someone to pass them on the sidewalk. As they went by, Danny recognized the young couple from the courtyard. The nurse and the orderly, arm in arm until they got closer to the front entrance of the hospital where they lingered a bit longer and Danny swallowed hard as he stared at them.

 _A nurse and an orderly._ He could try to get to his feet and call out. Maybe fake a seizure or a heart attack ... something where they'd come running? It would no doubt work and he'd certainly not be faking the agony he'd cause himself. In fact, there was no doubt in his mind that he'd be blatantly causing himself harm by taking the chance, especially since the men around him would react, too. But Danny paused and discarded that option as he watched the pair share a sweet kiss.

He had no right in jeopardizing their safety. None at all.

Dismayed by that realization, his eyes widened as a bright red glimmer caught his eye. Danny stared hard, in total disbelief as he recognized Chin's red car entering the lot from the main road. He wanted to smile or even laugh out loud as his odds went from zero to fifty within seconds. Chin wasn't due back for hours. Not for hours based on what Steve had shared about chasing down Frank Harrison.

So, Chin's arrival only meant one thing: they _knew_. Someone had seen something or made a phone call, or even both. No matter which or who ... what only mattered now was that someone _knew_.

Sweating profusely as they began their slow walk again, Danny allowed himself to show his rising levels of stress and fatigue. Neither of things were a joke either, but he sure wasn't going to make it easy for his attackers. He sagged in the wheelchair, playing on his woes, still wondering how else he might be able to buy time because he could literally feel the eyes on them. Kono, Chin, and possibly members of the real Honolulu police managed by Sergeant Duke Lukela.

Tense and willing himself to be ready, Danny tried to understand what might happen, as well as where it might come from. For an instant though, he briefly doubted his hopes and what he sensed. There was no sign of Chin or his car. Not a single whisper of sound from any quarter. But then, that would be the point, right? So, Danny sternly shook himself back to reason since things _were_ already feeling different. In fact, it was indeed much quieter and Danny realized that the stillness was a major clue. Blinking madly as sweat dripped into his eyes, he tried to quiet the stampeding pace of his heart as the once overly busy front entrance lightened considerably in its volume of people and traffic.

Someone, somewhere had noticed and had begun to divert the crowd. Danny knew for certain now that he was entirely correct. The teaming masses were down to a residual few and it was everything Danny could do to remain coyly circumspect until he realized that they'd stopped again and he was being positioned at the passenger door to the white van.

"Wait," he asked, surprised to find his voice hoarse-sounding as another cough shook his frame. He purposefully allowed the stammer to worsen, his bandaged hand waving weakly in his lap. "I ... I need a minute."

"Uh. No. We're not waiting, Detective. You're going to get up," the man next to his side ordered. "Stand. I'll help ... and then you'll get in the front seat. The wheelchair will go in the back. When the door closes, my colleagues are going to cuff your hands behind your back ... that will no doubt hurt. But you're just going to have to deal with that ... _discomfort_ , Detective."

"I ... I can't do that," Danny wheezed as the wheelchair's foot rests were kicked away and his feet fell to the hot pavement. "I ... no ... I can't do that." He had no intention of getting in the van. His only hope in buying time was to continually use his injuries as a type of delay tactic in order to make things as difficult as possible and he began to play his aches to their fullest.

"No, I ... I can't," he whispered dramatically, grimacing as his ribs twanged unhappily. Part of what he said was incredibly true as heavy hands moved under his arms and then seized his elbows. He didn't need to plan out the way his knees wanted to buckle when the wheelchair was pulled back and he was forcibly heaved to his feet. He wasn't nearly ready at all for what happened next when he was made to stand, his entire body screaming against the rough handling as he was shuffled forward a few steps. What he did plan though was his utter collapse to the ground, his knees just skimming the pavement as his attackers hauled him back up, cursing his weakness. His body protested with a vengeance as he was roughly jostled and aimed towards the passenger seat, a third set of hands from up high, helping to lift his lower body. That _did_ hurt, and Danny cried out in pain as his chest burst into a white hot flare of agony.

"Get up there!" Someone growled in his ear as Danny's eyes slammed shut and he cried out again when his robe was fisted and literally used to pull him up. His ribs were creaking in earnest now as his healing injuries were aggravated. He moaned as a genuine spike of pain settled in his side. He wanted to argue or even ask for a brief respite, but the sound of his voice was quickly muffled by a hand placed over his mouth and another warning hissed nastily between them.

"Shut up ... shut the _fuck_ up!"

Still, Danny refused to do a single thing to help his cause. He decided that his legs wouldn't work next and two men were forced to drag him. Presumably shielded from view by their boss, the wheelchair and even by the balloons, they were angry but stayed confident while forcing him along. He gasped and groaned as his feet were literally kicked forward towards the van's stepped-up running boards. No lie there about the pain as new bruises on his shins were added to old. Pushed and propelled forward, Danny wound up biting his tongue, the thick taste of blood staining his lips when someone wrapped an arm around his waist to lever him even higher. That iron bar of an arm was _badly_ placed in every way imaginable and as his breath was pushed from his lungs, Danny literally forgot where he was for a long moment.

" _Shit_ ," he coughed out just once as his voice waned to nothing. "I can't ... _hurts_." He couldn't keep his fight up for long as seconds seemed to take hours now. He automatically grabbed for the van's door with his right hand when his foot was forced onto the van's running board, sweat making his fingers slip along the leather interior. But his arm exploded in pain as a fist purposefully connected with the python's already sluggishly bleeding wound and Danny's mouth gaped open soundlessly as his vision truly whited out.

"Let the _fuck_ go ... and get in the damned truck!" That same nasty voice said as Danny gulped in air like a dying, gaffed fish. "Stop fighting and get in!"

That final hit had been the one to sap his remaining energy though and Danny couldn't help falling limply back into their arms, oblivious to the curses and anger aimed at him as he weakly prayed for Chin to step in. He was done and serious now in his pleas because he didn't have long; _Steve didn't have long_ as his hold on reality began to waver. Danny had done all he could and his body was obliging to finish the job he'd tried to at first setup as a ploy while he feebly plucked against too many brutal hands which seemed to insist upon hurting him.

"Come on!" A voice hissed angrily. "Get him the fuck up here! _Hurry_!"

Inside the truck, Steve scowled against the sunlight which alternately hit his face or was blocked by moving shapes. Something was happening outside - a struggle. Arguing? Muzzy-headed, he wasn't quite able to focus on what it was until he heard the low moan.

"Danny?" Steve called, his brow furrowed as he heard the threats and unmistakable sound of his friend's voice. A voice that bespoke of reams of pain and an intense level of exhaustion. Sitting where he was though, he could only see the top of Danny's head over the passenger seat as Gibbons' men argued on how to get him into the van. Growling under his breath, Steve's drugged humor quickly fled as he heard an agonized sob and an unexpected, wheezed plea for help.

"Danny?" Steve asked again, forced to talk to the backs of Gibbon's men. "You're ...hey ... _stop_ ," he ground out as he forced rubbery legs to move when he heard another genuine moan of pain. "Stop ... _Danny_ ... what the hell are you doing to him?" He squirreled himself higher, to sit on his knees, his hands wrapped around the metal bar. Only then did Steve see more of Danny's whitewashed face, his eyes now closed and his expression shattered by pain as the men tried to roughly shoe-horn him into the passenger seat.

Even approaching a dead faint, Danny anticipated the gunfire, but it had taken so long that he was now officially incapacitated by his own misery. As the first tell-tale ping hit glass to shatter the van's windshield, the men around him shouted in alarm. Guns were drawn and a few faint screams sounded out nearby. He heard Steve's voice louder than all of them combined, shouting his name and demanding an answer. But Danny was falling now, the support of hands completely gone as Gibbon's men took cover to return fire; Frank Harrison, their driver, already dead behind the wheel of the van.

He had no time to prepare himself as he hit the ground hard with all of his weight. Danny instantly lost consciousness, his eyes rolling back inside his head when his abused body was engulfed by mind-numbing agony from head to toe. His legs fell under the van while his upper body wound up in the shallow crater of curb and sidewalk. He fell on his right side, his wounded arm twisted under his body and his forehead scraped and bloodied by the rough, pebbly macadam. Around him, the fire-fight escalated while inside the van, Steve was fighting the effects of the drug pushed into his system.

Elevated on his knees and straining against the zip-ties, Steve had caught more than a glimpse of Danny's sweat-stained, ashen expression. Even drugged, he'd heard the terrifying return of the audible raspy hitch from deep inside his friend's chest and he innately knew what it meant. Other than a feeble twitch of his hands, Danny hadn't been moving, nor had he been able to say a single word. Steve had heard nothing more than a deep moan of absolute pain. And though his vision refused to cooperate as halos of whitish lights flowed like gauzy layers in front of his eyes, Steve was sure that he'd seen the bruised cheek and the blurred reddened divot on the robe's thin sleeve.

He'd heard and seen just enough to remember the danger that they were in. And when the first gunshot rang out, the van's windshield spidering into shards of glass, Harrison now dead behind the wheel and Danny lost from his sight, Steve became a man possessed.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	19. Chapter 19

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Before the first volley of shots even ended, Steve was already contorting his body, his face unrecognizable in its anger. On one knee, he turned towards the metal bar to gain a short lead of slack in the zip ties before sharply snapping his fists towards the roof of the van. He did that once, then twice, nearly falling on the third wrenching twist when the plastic finally broke in half.

Steve cocked his head to the side when he won his freedom, a pleased sneer on his lips as he stared at the back of the one man who remained inside the van with him. Steve was as oblivious to the blood trickling down his wrists as Gibbon's man was of him as he crouched low, using the rear doors as cover while taking pot shots at Steve's team and HPD.

The dark blue shape shimmered eerily and Steve rubbed at his eyes, his vision affected by the aura which undulated disturbingly wherever he looked. It was like being underwater without a sense of being up or down, or even of proper depth perception. He was off-kilter and shaky, his muscles not truly able to cooperate with his needs. Nonetheless, as a fresh exchange of gunfire erupted from inside the van, Steve crawled forward, his eyes on the blurred pale image of the man's head.

Only Gibbon's man was firing from inside the van. They knew ... _his team knew he was inside_ ... and Steve's smile became ruthless.

Body shaking but driven by determination, Steve's focus remained true. His eyes watered and his vision swam sickeningly as he edged forward, trembling hands held wide and ready. Aided by the noise of his own weapon, Gibbon's man never suspected the dual set of claps which effectively burst his eardrums. Steve attacked soundlessly despite his disadvantage. He attacked with intent to kill, Danny's stricken face foremost in his mind. The stunned yelp ended on a weird squawk as the man's hands flew to his head, his weapon clattering to the bed of the van. His finish swift when Steve delivered a hard, cold-cocked punch to the side of his face, literally pile-driving the man's head into the sidewall of the van.

Off balance and wide eyed almost manically from the drug, Steve fell forward onto his hands and knees, scrabbling awkwardly for the gun and then for the whitish blur of the van's rear doors. Sweat dripped off the bridge of his nose as he hung there, poised still on his hands and knees for what seemed like minutes on end, his face still taut in an angry snarl. He felt as if his brain was melting as he narrowed his eyes to just listen to the chaos on the outside. Gun shots, shouts, orders and an occasional scream mixed as one. He wanted to know precisely what was going on and yet, he could only focus on one thing at a time. His current poor state of reality was going to have to be good enough, though reaching Danny was his ultimate objective.

Free himself – _done_. Eliminate any immediate threats – _done_. Recon of quarters, secure his location, arm himself … _check, check_ and _check_ yet again. _Danny_. He needed to get to Danny.

Steve needed to move even though he was breathing hard now, the sound strained as it filled the tight interior of the van. He wobbled unsteadily as he righted himself. Still in a rage, he felt as if he could take on the moon despite the way his muscles continued to quiver uncontrollably.

He was secure inside the van. But, how many were left? How many? He felt invincible but was infuriated when he failed to tally up the exact number of their attackers. He clicked off Harrison inside his head, then the man he'd just incapacitated and who he believed the fake officer tasked with minding him. The one who'd slapped him ... _yes_. But, there had been a falsely uniformed man in the passenger seat and Steve had no idea where he'd gone.

_Who the hell was left?_

The ringleader certainly. That devious voice in his ear. The very same who had drugged him. That was when his mind switched off though and Steve simply couldn't remember. It was a certainty that another man - possibly even two had been left with Danny along with their leader. So three or ... four? Unsure if it truly mattered with his team and HPD pinning the balance down, Steve still growled under his breath in annoyance as he struggled forward to the lip of the cargo area and braced his shoulder against the inside corner. He peeked through the partially opened door and readied the gun. Even with his eyesight compromised, Steve recognized his team versus the sly, suspect shapes of their attackers. One in particular was incredibly close and Steve smiled nastily because the man between the van and another parked car was the ringleader. He had his back to Steve, evidently assuming that his own man was covering his six. That assumption only made Steve smile more knowingly.

He carefully nudged the van's door wider and then waited to be sure. His hands were trembling and he had trouble focusing on the blurred, dazzling aura which was the ringleader's body. He had to make sure that the aura was directly in his sights. He had to remove any doubt before he committed to pulling the trigger. Just once, Steve pawed roughly at his eyes, his dominant hand dipping slightly before he corrected it and fired the weapon with a short wish that he'd actually shoot to disable and not to kill.

He wanted Angelo Gibbons and so he would have this man, first; he needed him alive. Steve committed to pulling the trigger the moment he sensed that the ringleader was preparing to move, jockeying himself for a better position. He watched impassively as the man lurched forward, his upper body collapsing over the parked car, a bullet to the upper thigh effectively disabling him. Steve didn't wait to check though and he probably should have, as he quickly left the confines of the van.

"Danny!" He shouted hoarsely as he dropped to the van's bumper, his legs rubbery and nearly refusing to hold him upright. He leaned against the bumper for balance, not realizing that he was entirely exposing himself to the remaining dangers of the fray until a warning yell from Chin had him stumbling around towards the side of the van. The ringleader hadn't been put out of action for very long. Hobbling on one leg, he'd turned to counter Steve's attack with a volley of rapid gunfire before Steve's team could properly react because Steve was in their line of sight, too.

Chin yelled again, screaming at Steve to move and get down. _"What the hell are you doing!?"_ Cursing under his breath at his own errant stupidity, Steve dove around the side of the van, slipping badly as a series of machine-gun like pings and pops followed his haphazard escape. Practically blind in his haste, he needed to use the side of the van for balance when he literally fell over Danny's abandoned wheelchair.

"Son of a ... _bitch_!" He hissed as he tripped over the metal frame. He went down hard, not really feeling anything until a hot sting in his side momentarily took his breath away. But it was something quickly forgotten as he charged forward, scrabbling away on his hands and knees, only to be unexpectedly slapped in the face once and then twice. He batted the new attackers away, his anger on the upswing again until he realized it was only the balloons. Just the damnable balloons which were still tied to the rear of Danny's wheelchair. He cursed again as his rocked on his knees, breathless and his face reddened until he realized that he'd put himself right where he wanted to be ... where he _needed_ to be.

"Danny!" Steve whispered as he simply crawled the last few feet to Danny's side. He reached out, just shy of touching his friend, the bluish-white blur of Danny's face heightened by the narcotic he'd been given. Danny's hair shone in the sunlight, and almost reverently Steve paused to stare until he shook himself from his unlikely thrall. But he still didn't get much further because Danny looked like he had in Franklin Ray's old home. Danny looked like he had at the foot of the staircase in the one time snake den and Steve choked back a sudden lump which rose inside his throat.

"Hey?" He asked softly as he eased himself to sit between the wheel-well of the van and his friend's body. "Hey? Danny?" Steve leaned forward, his hands still trembling, as he reached out to gently turn Danny over so that he wasn't lying so heavily on his side. The low moan was heartbreaking as Steve carefully pulled Danny into his lap, cradling him and taking his dead weight as the blonde head lolled over to his shoulder.

"Danno?" Steve squeezed his eyes tightly closed as Danny moaned again, his breath shallow and uneven, the pain more than evident in the low tone.

"It's over," he whispered while he gently carded sweat-matted hair away from his friend's face. "It's over ... it really is." Steve could hear the gunshots in the distance as the altercation continued, but he knew he was right. Its pace was slower and more methodical; nowhere near the van and where he sat now protecting his partner. The more sporadic sounds signaled a pending end and so he ignored everything around him, putting the gun down by his side in order to gently swipe the bits of gravel and smudges of dirt away from the side of Danny's cheek and temple. He scowled angrily at the rawness of the scraped skin and had to fight the unrealistic emotional spike of adrenalin he felt. He growled inaudible words under his breath as he took a good look at the fresh stain of blood seeping into the material of the robe. Danny's right arm had been badly re-injured and Steve could feel the abnormal volume of heat rising up.

But the shallow, staccato breathing pattern was most worrisome and Steve's anger seemed to take another side-trip into a feeling of near panic. The sound was all wrong. He'd heard something like this before and, as far as he was concerned, that terrible sound had spelled a pending disaster.

"Shit, Danno. Don't do this again," Steve muttered under his breath. His stomach clenched and he glanced around, looking for help and scared, without really seeing the people jogging towards him. Only the shout of a new voice had him looking up again and focusing as Kono slid down next to him.

"Boss?" Kono asked worriedly. "Boss? Steve? Are you okay ... Danny? Is he okay?"

"Kono?" Steve replied almost stupidly. He frowned into her face, at a momentary loss for words while he used his chin to gesture down towards Danny. His mouth flapped opened and then closed without uttering a sound, his brain knowing what he wanted to say and yet his ability to communicate suddenly stunted and broken. Heaving in a breath of air, Steve shook his head in annoyance as the drug coursed through his system, thwarting the most simple of his demands.

"No ... he needs ... oxygen," he finally stammered. "He needs ... _help_. Can ... can you ... get them in here? Is ... is it clear?"

"Yeah. Almost ... a go," she replied as she simultaneously ensured their safety and listened to the chatter on her comm link. "We're rounding up the last two, boss. It's okay ... we got them cornered. Medical staff is in the wings ... two minutes tops. Then we can let them through."

"Good ... yeah, good," Steve breathed out. "Two minutes." His fingers traced a path across the grit remaining on Danny's cheek before shakily settling on his neck. He could just feel the too rapid thrum of Danny's pulse where grime and sweat mingled to coat the over-heated skin and Steve felt sick again. But he paused, his thumb running soothingly over the rise of Danny's clavicle, stunned when a tiny glint of hazy blue unexpectedly met his eyes.

 _"St-steve?"_ Danny mouthed silently.

"Yeah, buddy. You're okay," Steve whispered his reassurances automatically when he realized that Danny was trying to focus on him. His lips twitched as relief flooded him from head to toe when Danny's eyes locked on him, and he sucked in a huge lungful of air, expelling it in a thankful rush. "God, Danny ... yeah, it's over ... it's okay. You're okay, buddy. We're good."

Danny opened his mouth as if to speak then. Instead, a shuddered inhale shook his body so painfully hard that he tried to fold in upon himself. He _hurt_ ... possibly not as badly as in Franklin Ray's old mansion, but he certainly _hurt_. Breathing was difficult and his arm ... his _arm_ was a leaden, throbbing mess from his shoulder down to his very fingertips. Making matters worse, he'd been positive that he'd failed, yet Steve was there. Staring down at him, concerned and almost _afraid_ ; Steve was there ... and inconceivably ... evidently ... _safe_. It was all overwhelming and he closed his eyes, his body taut with pain and wanting nothing more than to let go for a long, long while.

"Where's that medical team?" Steve burst out, his smile fading as fast as it had appeared when Danny wheezed so painfully in his arms. "Where? Kono, ... get them over here. Now!"

"Coming! Medical's got the all clear now, boss," Kono said, interrupting Danny's already fractured hold on consciousness and he slowly looked her way, blinking upwards and blinded for a minute by the brightness of the sun. She stared down at him, completely failing at hiding her deep concerns as she tried to maintain a sense of calm. "Hey-a, Danny. Don't try to talk, brah. Just ... take it easy ... things are under control."

Her voice was a soft lilt after the loud, dangerous tones he'd just been subjected to and Danny tried to smile. He was scaring just about everyone and didn't mean to. _Kono_. Her black hair was pulled back and she was fully geared up despite the heat. Face flushed and still edgy from the fight, she smiled back at him. Brilliant and kind. Things which he wholeheartedly embraced even if he couldn't quite yet find his tongue. In fact, it was all he could manage to keep his eyes opened as Steve murmured something to him which he didn't quite understand.

" _Whu ..?"_ Danny whispered brokenly, his brow furrowed up in confusion and pain as he stared into his partner's face. "Steve?"

He was laying virtually in Steve's lap as the medical staff were given the all clear. Half on the sidewalk and half in the gutter, Danny slowly understood that he was being cuddled into his partner's lap. And as he looked up into his face, Steve was back to smiling that goofy grin of his, but his eyes weren't focused at all. That usual stormy blue was barely visible and almost hidden by pupils blown to black. Then there was the issue of how Steve was quite literally vibrating under him, Steve's upper body practically swaying.

"Steve?" Danny whispered again as he stared into deep, shiny pools of pitch blackness which seemed to swallow his pale, pain filled eyes. "What ... what _happen'd?"_ Something was wrong and he fought to remember what it was because he knew - he should know.

"Danno," Steve replied softly. "I ... uh ... we, got ... Harrison. The others, too. God, I thought ... Danno, I thought they'd killed you."

Steve bent down then, his shadow hiding the bright sun and Danny closed his eyes tiredly. He was hurting and incredibly relieved about what Steve shared until he realized that he'd just been kissed on the forehead. He literally could feel the dampness which Steve's lips had left behind when he sat back up.

"Steve?" Startled, Danny forced his eyes back open, suddenly wanting nothing more than to let go and allow the fine hospital staff their druthers in their care for him as Kono chuckled. The medical team was right there now and yet he was still being rocked in his partner's arms as Steve sat splay-legged on the hot parking lot macadam, cradling his upper body and ... _what_?

"Oh, boss," Kono chuckled in amusement. "You're going to have let him go ... Boss?" She looked steadily into Steve's eyes and then shook her head incredulously. Her smile broadened and she helplessly shrugged at the nurse who was looking at her in askance. The medical staff really had two patients to look after based on what she was reading in Steve's face ... and actions.

"Steve?" Are you feeling okay?" Kono asked. "What happened to you? Huh?" Her grin grew two-fold when she got a better look at his eyes. B _lown pupils. Profuse sweating._ He'd been drugged and certain things made absolute sense as she mentally closed a loop on a certain part of this particular story. She bit her lip as she acknowledged his bruised and bloody wrists and general appearance now. They certainly had two patients on their hands.

"Did they drug you, boss? Any idea with what?" She asked the questions rhetorically and more so for the ears of the medical team. Her sigh patient, but her worry growing.

"What?" Danny rasped out as Steve leaned forward again, his body once more blocking much of the sunlight for another impending show of affection. "Stop it. _Steven_ ... stop it. _You_ ... you're ... _stoned_ ," Danny whispered as he automatically closed his eyes when another kiss was planted on his forehead. Precisely in the same spot as before and Danny scowled patiently as Kono laughed outright.

"High as a damned kite," Danny complained helplessly.

"Must be the good stuff," Kono snarked lightly. "You are definitely stoned, boss."

"Not stoned. You could have been killed," Steve said, his lips quirking upwards into a lopsided grin, not knowing who to address first. "He could have been killed. I thought ... I thought they'd killed you."

" _Stoned_. Stop ... that," Danny muttered under his breath. "M'fine ... m'okay." He tried to insist that he was perfectly fine. But a cough ruined the words and Steve's face instantly fell. Danny tried then to raise a hand, any hand to forestall Steve's fingers as they gently carded through the dampness of his hair. But he whined in pain as his right arm objected just the mere tightening of his muscles and his left hand throbbed unmercillesly, stitches torn there too.

"We need to check him out," one of the nurses said. "And then you, too, Commander. Your wrists ... and the blood? Where's that coming from?"

"What ... blood?" Kono remarked in confusion, her eyes wide as she looked to where the nurse was gesturing. "Who ... which one of them? Boss?"

"I think ...," the nurse started to talk and then stopped, her brow furrowed thoughtfully as she bent closer towards Steve. She felt along his side and then picked at the blood stained t-shirt, lifting it up to investigate the long furrow along his ribcage. "I think ... yeah, he's been shot ... doesn't look bad for what I can see, but he's bleeding good enough."

 _"N-andrthal,_ " Danny murmured worriedly. But any other worried complaints he might have had evaporated as the medical staff began a triage around both he and his partner. With Steve not thinking to move and likely needing medical care, too, they wove in and around them both to take blood pressure and to place an oxygen mask over Danny's face. Blood seeped through his once white bandages, and Danny was positive that more muddied the pale blue of his robes.

And now Steve ... he'd been shot. Danny wanted to ask and yet his eyes were closing. His body was beginning to go back to that happier, quieter place where he could shut down and just rest for a few hours. He heard the soft patter of the two nurses and the doctor who quickly assessed his condition. He could easily tell them a few important things: his entire body was aching and sore, and breathing was once again becoming an issue as he weakly coughed.

He wasn't fine or okay; not even close. He'd over-taxed his healing body and then quite literally been dropped to rock-hard ground. Even stoned and injured - and Danny managed a sketchy grin then - even happily _stoned_ out of his mind, his partner sensed that, too as he began to complain to the doctor.

"Steve ... Steven?" Danny's mild reprimand to leave the staff alone turned into a question as his chest hitched and he suddenly couldn't open his eyes at all. He was bone-tired and desperate to rest. All of a sudden, Danny was more than willing to let both Steve and Kono lead the medical charge to chaperone his aching body back into the hospital. And once again, even as a high as a kite, Steve seemed to read his mind.

"We got ya, buddy," Steve replied softly, the anger and worry he still felt countermanding the misplaced, upwards tilt of his lips as he made one promise to his best friend. "I got ya, Danno. Everything's okay. Just rest."

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	20. Chapter 20

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

 _"Sorry. M'sorry,"_ he mouthed tiredly as Steve propped him up in his arms and a gurney was readied for him to be moved. Barely able to keep his eyes opened as he tried to apologize, Danny looked from Steve and then to Kono, confused when Kono's mouth fell open in disbelief.

"He's kidding right" Kono blurted when she easily read Danny's lips and then glanced up towards Steve. "He's sorry? Seriously, he's sorry ... for what exactly?"

For a minute, she completely tuned out the medical staff working around her friends because she simply couldn't believe what Danny was trying to say. After the tip had been called in, both she and Chin were sure they'd be too late. There had been something odd about the caller and the details of the message shared. Neither cousin could quite put their finger on what had seemed off, but the feeling had permeated their overall trust in the legitimacy of the tip. Then on the way over to the hospital, their primary concern had shifted and their fear had become that they'd be too late to stop Gibbons' men.

That had nearly happened, too. Only Danny's stall tactics - entirely committed at his own ailing expense - had allowed them the luxury of some time to surprise their attackers. Without Danny's help, they'd never had those extra precious minutes which had mattered so much in the end.

"Danny, we seriously couldn't have done this without your help," Kono emphasized as she knelt down. She spoke to Danny and yet looked directly into Steve's face to make sure he understood what had gone on outside the van. "We all saw what you did, Danny ... all of us. You totally gave us the time we needed to setup ... to get in place before things could get even worse. We couldn't have gotten to you or to Steve in time without your help. Do you understand that we definitely couldn't have gotten all of those people out of the way? I can't even imagine how many lives were saved because you bought us so much time."

"Yeah. Okay," Danny quietly conceded on a short series of panted exhales. In all honesty, his brain hadn't even been able to grasp more than the sheer fact that he couldn't allow Gibbon's men to push him into the van. If they'd gotten him in the van, all bets would have been off for both himself and for Steve. Taking credit for anything else didn't seem quite fair to him, but Kono wouldn't hear otherwise and she was correcting him before he could object.

"You helped us save lives today, Danny," Kono insisted. "Not just yours and Steve's either. What you did was _great_ , brah. It really was." Only her eyes continually communicated her rising concerns as the medical team worried over his vitals and began to express their desire to move their patient. Despite the risk to himself, Danny had done all he could to prevent the situation from worsening. But in doing so, he'd potentially hurt himself again; and possibly badly at that. And to her eye, Danny looked bad indeed.

"You could have been killed", Steve repeated and Kono winced at his words. Danny could have died and yet, Steve was suddenly grinning once more. Pleased and proud by what slowly sank into his brain, Steve rudely planted another embarrassingly audible kiss on the top of his partner's head.

"Boss!" Kono chuffed out as Danny groaned in chagrin under his breath.

"You're a hero, Danno!" Steve chuckled loudly, drawing the attention of a few of the medical team who grinned back. "Saved us too, partner."

"Yeah, well ... get _off_ ...," Danny wheezed under the oxygen mask much to Steve's surprise and eventual amusement. "I'm fine so... so let me ... up, Steven." The resultant smile to his words beamed as brightly as the sun just as Steve's fingers got mired in Danny's hair, but nothing happened. Instead, his partner simply gazed down fondly on him and Danny pursed his lips in frustration.

"Steve. Are ... are you done now?" Danny muttered as he blinked into Steve's eyes, amazed by the blackness of the man's pupils which were oddly accentuated by the wrinkles around his eyes. "Steve, ..." he tried to say only to be interrupted. "I'm ... good ... so ...,"

"Up? No. No, you're not good," Steve chuckled back. "Not fine. You ... you're messed up, Danno. And that's why the nurses are here."

"And ... _uh_...," Danny stopped to take a shallow breath, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask and his eyes closing when his chest pinged a warning, "... you? I _s'pose_ you're ... not ... messed up?"

"Nope. I'm golden in fact," Steve stated proudly. "Never felt better, Danno. Seriously ... fantastic. Golden."

"I ... I, _uh_ ... bet," Danny murmured, his attempt at a patient eye roll a sad excuse for the real thing. "Golden, _huh_?" Next to them, Kono laughed out loud, as did a few of the attending medical staff who were now all anxiously waiting to get Danny back inside the hospital. But his weak rant was over before he'd really started. He closed his eyes again, suddenly too tired to continue talking even though he still wanted to know more about everything. More about Steve; more about their attackers and how his team had known to come so very quickly. As he quieted out of necessity, he could practically feel Steve's worried reaction and he tried to apologize while peeling his eyes back open.

 _"M'fine,_ " he whispered as he blearily blinked up into Steve's face. "Sorry ... _m'okay_ Steve. Just ... tired."

"That's enough, Danny," Steve readily agreed. "Really. It's enough ... okay? They need to get you inside now."

Lacking the energy to even nod, Danny thought he should at least complain about the fingers which seemed almost permanently stuck in the sweaty strands of his hair. He was beyond any point of being able to properly communicate though. His eyes eventually closed from pure exhaustion and from trying to cope with the growing intensity of body-wide aches. He'd fallen hard and rattled pre-existing injuries; perhaps even created new ones. His head hurt, his chest and his bad arm were on fire. A wrongly timed inhale could even bring on the horrors of a coughing spasm. He felt a cough threaten to start as an unfortunate breath pinged inside his throat.

"Stop thinking so damned hard," Steve said petulantly. "Rest ... that's an order."

Danny tried to smile, the comebacks to that particular _order_ flitting through his head but not even close to making it out of his mouth. Even with his own sketchy state of mind and the way his words were beginning to slur together, Steve knew he'd reached a terrible pinnacle.

Danny was _done_. _Finished_. Steve _knew_ and probably felt the ongoing tremors though Danny's back as he kept urging him to rest. Still, Danny quite couldn't let go because there was too much activity going on around him. There were too many voices which he didn't recognize and then ... _hands_.

Hands which were deft, but also accidentally causing him more pain and Danny cringed away.

"We'll take him now."

Under him, Steve carefully shifted and Danny felt rather than heard the deep grunt. He sensed his partner's shakiness and remembered. Besides being drugged of course, Steve had been creased and Danny tried to object for the briefest of moments before he just whited out. Had he been listening harder, he would have known what was coming. Instead, a flash of pain through his arm and another through his chest, left him deaf and breathlessly mute.

"Ready? On three."

But no, he wasn't ready at all when those hands joined together in order to lift him. " _Wait_ ," he mouthed silently as his body left the relative peace of the hard macadam and Steve's solid brace.

Danny's face pinched tightly, a helpless soft rush of air escaping his lips as his world tilted on a sickening axis. Even with his eyes closed, the sense of vertigo took his breath away and he dry-heaved as he was efficiently moved to the gurney. He forgot where he was and tumbled back in time, suddenly trying to fight _them_ , a surge of panic usurping the little reason he had left. A reaction which earned a surprised curse from his partner and another gentle tug of fingers through his hair once he'd been moved. But there were far too many voices making demands, rechecking his vitals, and Danny was officially beyond being able to help his reaction, his better arm flailing wildly to the side where it was restrained much to his dismay.

"Relax Detective ... you're going to be fine." More voices and hands which held him down or worse yet, poked and prodded his sore side, then sketched the depth of the scrapes along his temple. His injured arm was gently draped over his chest and he gasped with that, the gurgle dying in his throat no matter everyone's care.

"Commander? We need to take him in now."

"I know ... but," Steve's voice reached Danny then. Close by and no longer amused by any stretch of the imagination, Steve oddly seemed angry. Frustrated even and quite unable to stop a new litany. "I know you do ... I _know_ ... but ..."

"Steve?" Kono joined in then, upset by his stammered objections. "They're helping him."

 _'Help would be a good idea',_ Danny dismally thought to himself as his stomach decided to hiccup through a painful hitch. Wrung out and losing his hold on what was happening around him, Danny was soon going to lose another particular battle as his stomach clenched and roiled. Steve was right even though he hadn't been able to finish that weirdly repetitive litany ... _but_ ... _but_ something was wrong and Danny was certainly going to be sick.

"Watch him!" Someone cautioned as Danny suddenly choked on his own bile, only to hack helplessly at the sharp sting which settled in the back of his throat. He was so done as tears pricked his eyes. The sickening feeling wouldn't go away and he couldn't catch his breath, and then inside his chest, his very ribs felt as if they were creaking like tree limbs caught in a high wind.

"Roll him … easy … slow it down people! Watch his arm … ribs on the left."

With an unfortunate alacrity, Danny was turned to his right side on the gurney. The oxygen mask was quickly removed, someone's hands appeared to support his injured arm and another pair - _trembling and calloused_ \- still resolutely kept his head and neck straight as he helplessly gagged over the edge.

 _Steve_. Of course, he'd bullied his way back in.

Danny wanted to say something or just do something to indicate that he was fine. _He had this_ \- all total lies because in truth, he was incapable of doing a blessed thing as he vomited over the side of the gurney. Too sick to be embarrassed, helpless tears streamed down his face, stinging the dirty, scraped skin of his cheek, until the worst of it finally ebbed away, leaving his chest feeling constricted and tight.

There was a new sense of urgency in the airspace around him, while Steve's thumb stuttered over his brow to awkwardly swipe strands of sweaty hair from his forehead. A trembling hand found the top of his head and Danny briefly acknowledged that lone touch just before he began to fade. _Steve_. The top of his head was all Steve could reach before he was gently moved aside. There was more conversation, a soft lull and then Steve was gone entirely from his side. Likely taken away for his own quick triage as a strange voice saw fit to remind the Commander of the need to check out his own injury no matter how ' _golden_ ' he might be feeling.

 _Golden_. Danny tried to smile at that parting comment. It was a good word. He'd barely caught it in time as the gurney started its rapid roll, only one side of his lip lifting upwards under the oxygen mask. It was a very good word and the last which Danny thought of before he realized how very done he was. Washed out and left utterly spent, Danny merely managed a faint whine as he allowed himself to drift to another place while the oxygen mask was hastily replaced. He registered the activity increasing around him, but chose to ignore it all as he started up a weak mental chant to just ... breathe.

_Relax. Breathe. Breathe ... relax. Breathe._

" _Uh_? Danny?" Steve stammered worriedly when his friend fell so quiet. "Danno?"

But he'd been pushed aside for good now and the medical team was on the move. Steve stared at the blurred paleness of Danny's skin. What was nearly translucent made the scraped and marred skin on his cheek boldly stand out against an ashen landscape. But Danny had fallen far too quiet and there was a subtle hitch to his breathing. Possibly even the softest of pained sounds almost buried in the background and Steve swallowed hard, his face creased with worry as the medical team rushed his friend away.

"Your turn, boss," Kono said gently as she turned Steve aside, pulling his attention directly into her face. "He's going to be okay and Chin's going right inside to be with him ... to stay in touch with the doctors. Now, boss ... it's time for you."

"I feel fine ... perfect," Steve argued as Kono and a male nurse physically backed him up. A second gurney had been brought out for him and he balked immediately when he saw where their dual pairs of hands were guiding him. His mouth opened and then closed, his brow furrowed distractedly when wisps of Kono's hair caught in the breeze. It was pretty - like a strange, dark and diaphanous spider's web - and Steve blinked though a dizzy spell.

"Pretty," he whispered unexpectedly.

"What? Boss?" Kono asked, concerned when she saw the change in his expression. Without warning, he wavered in place, his knees shaking as they forgot how to stay locked. The male nurse instinctively reading the signals of a pending collapse as he grabbed the Commander's arm.

"Sit," the nurse demanded, pushing Steve onto the gurney and swinging his legs up with one easy motion before the Commander had time to react or wonder how or why it had happened. "You're bleeding ... probably not bad ... but we do have to take a look at it."

The nurse was big and adept, definitely the no-nonsense type. His attitude left Kono to smile almost in delight as Steve's expression morphed into one of surprise as his ruined t-shirt was rucked up and the deep wound gently evaluated.

"I'm bleeding?" Steve exclaimed in confusion. "How did that happen?"

"Oh Steve," Kono sighed, a playful smile on her lips while her free hand tapped a nervous tattoo on the stock of her weapon. This was the second nurse who'd questioned the bloody tatters of his ruined t-shirt. Evidently, her boss was beyond understanding ... or maybe remembering ... a few things. On top of everything else, he apparently wasn't feeling a blessed thing, either.

"Yes ... _yes_ , you're bleeding. You got shot," Kono stressed, her explanation phrased slowly as he stared dumbfounded into her face.

"I got shot?" Steve said as he tried to beat back the nurse's hands to investigate the deep crease on his own. "I got ... shot," he muttered next, more to himself than to anyone else.

"It's not too bad," the nurse stated calmly, though he was smiling widely. But then he paused and narrowed his eyes as he stared into Steve's face inquisitively. "But, sir? How do you feel?"

"How do I feel? I told you already ... I feel great," Steve complained, though he didn't struggle or try to get up. "I want to see ... Danny." Instead, he looked from one to the other, all fight gone from him now as the auras returned in their pleasant swirls of color. The male nurse's halo wasn't nearly as stunning as Kono's and Steve grinned when she tugged loose strands of hair back into place over her air.

"Chin's got Danny ... you now and then you can see him. By the time we get you in there and checked out, the doctors will have an update for us on Danny," Kono reminded him gently, bemused as his eyes nearly crossed when he stared so hard at her hair.

"What _are_ you looking at though?"

"Your ... hair. It's _uh_... pretty... it's _shiny_ ," Steve slurred as he lazily crossed his ankles and leaned back on the gurney. Kono's hair was pretty with its purplish-black halo. Backlit by the sun, he could scarcely see her face for the shimmering glow, but that didn't matter. The gleam of her halo was simply ... _perfect_.

Contentedly buzzed, Steve folded his arms neatly over his chest and just stared until her face blurred into nothingness and the halo increased exponentially. Steve's smile was huge as the remaining staff descended upon their next patient.

"Perfectly ... golden."

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	21. Chapter 21

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Chin was standing at the lip of the doorway with a queer smile on his face, watching. But he was listening, too, and trying hard not to laugh.

"Marshmallow."

"Shut up, Daniel."

The amused snort reeked of fatigue and he'd been informed of his setbacks, but Danny's humor was well intact. Steve on the other hand, had made it through his brief battle with a narcotic mostly unscathed. Two rounds of intravenous fluids later, the worst of the effects had been forced from his system and he was free to go home, but now he was suffering from an acute migraine and not even remotely in the mood for joking. His knuckles were bruised and the long crease along his ribcage had left him sore.

He was tired, achy and moody. What Chin didn't understand was that Danny certainly knew all of those things and yet, he didn't stop. For his part, Steve should have let it go - walked away - still, he not only stayed, he saw fit to actually argue back.

"Soft," Danny muttered under the oxygen mask. His left hand lifted a few inches off the bed, his fingers tiredly making a clawing motion. Eyes closed and being tended to in the ICU as a nurse changed out the ice packs from around his badly bruised bicep, he managed to see fit to egg his partner on. Even the attending physician was laughing because, while his patient was most certainly ailing, he had his wits about him.

"Squishy." His fingers lifted again to make an open and closing motion.

"I said ... shut up."

" _Squishy_ ... soft ... on the inside. ' _Cept_ today when it oozed out ... to the outside. Like ... a malasada. Golden on the outside and ... and then when you least expect it ... _fluffy_ ... on the ... inside." Danny stopped to catch his breath, a worn smile on his lips. _Golden_. There it was again and he heard Steve's soft curse of disgust. Danny would have laughed if he could. Instead, there was a sharp wheeze at the end of his flagging breath and he missed Steve's reaction.

Worried by the noise, Steve glanced up, quickly meeting the doctor's eye. The returned nod was subtle enough but indicated that his partner was relatively fine. Danny was certainly worn out, but generally doing well since being placed on oxygen.

"That doesn't even make sense? Malasadas, Danny?" Steve argued back after a moment's pause, almost afraid to smile. "Besides, I'm sure it didn't happen like that."

He rubbed the space between his eyes hard, grimacing at the ongoing ache. He'd crashed hard enough; left with a not so pleasant, morning-after hangover kind of feeling. Every single step he took made the throbbing in his head worse. As he grimaced, he peered out between his fingers, disgusted that Danny didn't show an ounce of empathy. At least he wasn't making horse jokes ... at least, not yet. Steve would deserve those too. Comeuppance should be expected especially after Steve had made fun of Danny for days after his first go-round with Franklin Ray when learning that the antivenin antibodies were derived from equine hosts.

 _Mr. Ed_ and _Trigger_ had been funny at the time. He'd even managed to tap into Danny's cell phone to change the ring tone to a snippet of the William Tell Overture from the very aged Lone Ranger TV show. It had been hysterical. At the time. Now though after his own altercation, he rued his partner remembering those many days-worth of antics.

" ' _Course_ it does." Danny's voice barely made it past the oxygen mask, but the dry chuckle was enough to stop Steve from his nervous musings. "It totally makes sense because that is precisely what happened, Captain _Feel_ -Good," Danny snickered tiredly, his voice cracking and then dwindling to nearly nothing. With an effort, he took a studious inhale, slowly expelling his breath to get out each and every one of his next words.

"Even ... Chin'll agree ... with that. Right, Chin?"

"Don't involve me with this little tete-a-tete," Chin laughed from where he stood in the doorway. "I wasn't there. Remember? But from what I've heard ... well, it might make just a little bit of sense."

"Seriously? With a statement like that you expect not to be involved? You're so very ... _helpful_ , Chin Ho Kelly. Whatever would I do without you?" Steve scoffed sarcastically towards Chin. Eyebrows raised in disbelief at the subterfuge, he was trying not to laugh though.

"But ... Kono was!" Danny singsonged out on a wispy exhale, his expression smug despite the wheezy cough at the end. "She saw it all ... Captain _Feel_ -Good."

"Why don't you just rest, Danno? Weren't you told _not_ to talk? Like ... _ever again_?" Steve groused helplessly to a round of good-natured laughter which finally managed to make him grin, too.

Danny snorted softly under his breath, the smile drifting away from his face. He'd kept his eyes closed during the entire exchange. Truth be told, he also felt terrible from stem to stern and was tapped out. If he'd wanted to sleep before, he was certainly firmly in that zone now. Especially since they were all safe and the doctors had found the most wonderful of ways to make him comfortable. If he stayed just as he was - tucked in the middle of the slightly elevated hospital bed - with pain meds flowing into his veins and ice packs cooling the heat of his re-injured arm, Danny could almost convince himself that he was in his happy place. _Almost_ because he couldn't purge Panit Lau or Franklin Ray or even Frank Harrison and what they'd brought him ... and then Steve ... from the recesses of his mind.

"I'm tired," he muttered so softly under this breath that Steve doubted Danny had said anything at all until the doctor spoke up to agree.

"You are. And, I do think you should get your rest now, Detective," the doctor intervened on the light banter, a brief frown flitting across his face for the slight deviation in oxygen levels. "Your body wasn't nearly ready for today's ... _activities_. You're going to sleep and on my orders, your friends are all to leave for a while."

Eyes resolutely wedged closed, Danny nodded just once in agreement, but inwardly winced because he was wrong. None of them were actually safe and he was beginning to fight a few demons; things his mind made worse brought on likely by how he was feeling. In the forefront of his mind's eye, he saw the two pair of HPD officers stationed at the doors to the ICU. Chin had called for the extra details no matter that they had Gibbons' men in hand. The mobster hated to lose and he would send more; it was only a matter of when. But in a far worse false reality, Franklin Ray was lurking close by. It didn't matter that the supposed doctor was dead. He'd left an imprint which taunted Danny, made even bigger by his own tired imagination.

"You should all go home. I'm fine," Danny whispered when he sensed their reluctance, his partner's in particular. "Steve? You too. Go home ... get some sleep."

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

It happened when he was alone. Hours later when the late night shift had well started in the hospital. Panit Lau came sneaking into his room to stand over his bed, patiently waiting until Danny stirred and opened his eyes to finally recognize his visitor.

"Why ... how the hell did you ... get in here?" Danny rasped hoarsely as fear threatened to steal his voice when he saw what the man so carefully held in his hands. It twisted round both of Panit's darkened wrists, clearly unhappy. Extremely displeased in fact, and Danny nearly choked in horror when he realized what the handler's intentions were.

"What ... what ... the _hell_?"

"I'm sorry," the Asian handler said as he laid the snake on the white top sheet and took two full steps backwards. It was small as snakes went; less than twenty inches long and incredibly narrow in width. Almost delicate looking, but Danny innately knew it was incredibly lethal.

"He's making me do this. Angelo Gibbons ... he's going to kill me and then do the same to my family ... unless I do this."

Stricken, Danny nearly stopped breathing as the beautifully colored coral snake twirled an agitated circle over his abdomen. It was happening again and he didn't dare move as he listened to Panit blandly explain how toxic the coral snake's venom was.

"He's small, yes?" Panit noted quietly as he used a small handler's stick to prod the coral snake towards Danny's injured arm. The arm which was now secured to his side and completely immobilized.

"When he bites, he will need to hold on and _chew_ ... not shake ... not bite and release ... but _chew_ in order to envenomate a sufficient amount of toxin into your bloodstream."

Only Danny's eyes flew up to Panit's impassive face. He'd no idea how the man had managed to enter his room. Sweat began to speckle his brow and more began pool at the base of his throat. He suddenly couldn't talk and wanted to scream for help - for anyone to please come and help him! Where was his HPD detail? Where were Chin or Kono ... or even Steve? If none of them, then where were the doctors and nurses? None of it made sense and Danny felt the gorge rising into his mouth as Panit intentionally antagonized the usually more reclusive creature.

Using the handler's short stick, Panit pushed the snake hard and then rapped Danny's knuckles as if drawing attention to the bruised hand. Ignoring Danny's soft moan of fear, Panit did it again ... and again, forcing the coral snake to defend itself when it merely wished to hide. Angered, the snake snapped once at the stick and missed, raising the ire of the normally steadfast handler. With a hissed sound of annoyance made when Panit placed his tongue against the back of his own front teeth, he ruthlessly rammed the snake's lithe, writhing body against Danny's hand and simply trapped it there.

"When he does that ... bite," and Panit paused, a nod and wince coinciding directly with the snake's sudden and most tenacious grip onto Danny's thumb. "... _there_ ... as such ... he will chew and eventually, you will stop breathing. It's not even likely that you'll feel anything though. Not likely at all."

Danny's mouth gaped soundlessly open under the oxygen mask, his eyes dark and glassy with frightened tears. His thumb felt as if it had been pricked by needles and then he felt nothing at all. He only sensed that the coral snake was repetitively biting that same spot over and over again until the handler gave another curt nod and loosened his hold on the stick.

The snake had released him and was freed to slither a few inches over his torso. With the damage done, Danny's cause to stay still was now lost as he began to shake in earnest from head to foot. With his fear at an all time high, he was breathing rapidly and off-kilter, each staccato breath ending on an oddly pitched whine.

"It's done," Panit whispered matter of factly and despite his victim's evident distress. "In a few hours, you'll stop breathing and this time, there will be no antivenin." He shrugged then, offhandedly and without emotion while he gathered the tool of his trade back into his arms.

"Bites from coral snakes are quite uncommon and therefore, it's not profitable for pharmaceuticals to manufacture the antidote for this species ... because of this unfortunate truth, it's almost impossible to get ... or, to get in time to save the victim. I am ... sorry, Detective. Truly."

With that, both the snake and the Asian disappeared and Danny was left with a bloody thumb and a scream which remained practically dead on his lips.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> Notes: I'm very happy some of you figured out the last part of the prior chapter. I wasn't sure how obvious to make it. Much of what happens next is rooted in both stories - Venom and this one, too. Ongoing thanks to KQ for truly awesome guidance to keep this flowing so nicely!

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

From a short stint at home to freshen up and leverage a nap to conquer the residual effects of his headache, Steve returned to check on his friend near dawn. The time was a non-issue, because on any other morning, he'd be out doing his ocean free-swim. But with the deep crease along his ribcage, he'd be unable to take part in that usual part of his daily routine until much more healed up.

Taking his small entourage in stride, he parked his Silverado truck and entered the hospital on a slow walk. He felt much better; good in fact after his break and was hoping that his partner felt the same after his own good night's sleep. As the two HPD officers tailed him, Steve mostly ignored his own specially assigned detail, too. Once more, compliments of Chin Ho until their team brought in Angelo Gibbons. Steve had never seen Chin so incensed about the anonymous caller who'd called in the tip. In fact once Steve had been coherent enough to hear the whole story from start to finish, he agreed about the caller's likely identity.

Panit Lau. Frankln Ray's newest snake handler.

Chin was adamant and the strength of that feeling traced back to when he'd lost Steve in the first place to Gibbons' men. There'd be no more mistakes.

Once he'd come back to himself, Steve wholeheartedly agreed with the assumption and with each of Chin's next steps. Panit had no ties with Ray now dead; he had no reason to really stay in the employ of Gibbons and vice versa, so it was more than feasible that the handler had once again weighed in on behalf of the Five-0 team. The man wasn't above the law, but he had a conscience. However, the question remained as to where was he now and then what would Gibbons do once he found out, because surely, the felon would come to the very same conclusion?

And what would Gibbons then do with that belief? He would track Lau down and have him killed ... a task much easier to orchestrate than taking on any individual within Five-0, though he'd certainly come close enough already. Lau would be a consolation prize to Gibbons and then he'd reset his sites primarily back on Steve ... and therefore, still on Danny.

Regardless, within the last few hours, Chin had re-escalated the BOLO for Panit Lau on the pretense of taking the man into custody for his own protection. They'd deal with his transgressions once they had him in hand. Something which Kono was following up on at that very moment.

But now, Steve had fully expected Danny to be asleep, especially after what he'd been told thus far. Danny had been set back at least two to three days worth of time. The scrapes on his face and the bruises where he'd been back-handed were superficial. But where he'd been purposefully punched, Danny's bicep was badly bruised and the healing wound, torn open. The unprotected fall to the ground had jarred his unhealed ribs and the doctors were concerned about his lungs and the impact on his breathing.

"Good morning, sir," Danny's assigned HPD pair said practically in unison as Steve strolled closer to Danny's room. They nodded to acknowledge their peers behind him, their pleasantries brief but sincere.

"It's been a quiet night," one remarked, his voice low for the early hour. "We've been here the entire time."

"Good," Steve replied, relieved that things seemed more normal for their care. But if he expected to find Danny sleeping, Steve was rocked to a stunned halt.

Instead of sleeping, Danny was quite awake and literally ashen where he lay in his hospital bed. Steve stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway to the room, confused by the sheen of sweat and by the way Danny was visibly shaking. Something had happened and why no one was with Danny was beyond Steve's understanding.

"Get someone in here!" Steve barked out the order before he could think of anything else to say. Eyes wide in fear, Steve wasn't sure that Danny was even looking at him - not really _seeing_ him - as he ran into the room.

Danny blinked wildly as another dark shape came at him. He was sure that the handler had forgotten something and he cringed back until two hands grabbed both sides of his face to keep him still. Only then did Danny realize that he was shaking his head from side to side and whispering a near-breathless litany of ' _nonono_ '.

"What happened?" Steve demanded to know. "Danny? What the hell happened?"

Danny's mouth gaped open as he stared into Steve's face, at first disbelieving that his partner was really there. His throat ached from his discordant breathing and he coughed before trying to swallow hard because he was scaring Steve half to death. Still, he had to fight to stop his lips from moving in that dull, repetitive motion as a nurse entered the room, her concern for him evident.

"He ... he's here," Danny stammered nonsensically to Steve, his voice still muffled by the oxygen mask. " _Ss_... _nake_." He barely got the word out with his heart hammering inside his chest and the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears.

It was a deja vu so bad, that even Danny couldn't believe he was saying it out loud. He'd been here before. The vivid dreams and the terrible nightmares; a remembered pain so sharp that it still took his breath away. He'd been exactly here when Franklin Ray first stepped foot on the islands and now Danny was free-falling back in time again.

A cold dread sank into the pit of his stomach as he looked into Steve's face, trusting that once he made himself clear, Steve would completely understand.

"Snake?" Steve whispered even more baffled by his partner's reply. "What do you mean? Who was here? Come on, Danno. Calm down for me ... you have to calm down, buddy. There's no one here ... the HPD details been here the entire time. What are you talking about?"

"Lau," Danny pushed out between clenched teeth, his voice shaking more and more. "Here ... _ss_... _nake_." He saw the imperceptible shake of Steve's head. The want of denial was there, but then Danny watched as Steve's expression completely changed and he rounded in a fury on the HPD detail. But the men denied having left his partner alone and the argument - for it was a defensive argument - was loud in the quiet of the early morning hours. The sound brought more staff to the room and Danny's breathing worsened exponentially as they descended on him.

Forcing himself to listen, Danny moaned softly, his eyes closing as he started to doubt everything he'd seen just a few minutes earlier. Deja vu. So strong and real ... just like before? Could he have dreamt the entire thing?

"Danny ... _Danny_ ," the nurse coached him as white vapor filled the mask. "You have to calm down ... you have to control your breathing. You're on the verge of hyperventilating. Calm down ... breathe in and out. Slower ... slower!"

But he couldn't though and his eyes remained glassy and filled with fear as he looked from the Steve to the nurse, and then to the HPD details who hovered so worriedly in the doorway to his room. They swore nothing had happened. But? _Real_. Danny could feel the weight of the reptile on his chest. He could feel its fangs sinking into his thumb. Couldn't he?

It had to have been _real_. Right?

"Are you sure?" Steve whispered softly when he returned to his side. "Danny, they're swearing to me that they never left you ... not once. That they've been here the entire time ... tell me, what happened. Are you absolutely sure that Lau was here?"

"Yes ... _yes_ ... the snake?" Danny was nauseous as he glanced down to his thumb and was dizzy by what he saw there. "Bit me ... he made it ... bite. I saw it ... felt it." He wasn't sure at all, but he had proof. Weren't these tiny holes enough proof? The skin on the fleshy part of his thumb was dotted with specks of blood and even bruised looking. He didn't understand himself and then ... his thumb ... had it been real or a terrible nightmare?

Brow knit in consternation, Steve followed Danny's gaze down to his thumb. He touched Danny's hand gently and then eased over the marks on his thumb. There was definitely tiny pinpricks of blood ... two maybe three.

"What the hell caused this?" Steve asked the nurse. "What is this? Could he have been bitten ... by something?"

"Bitten? No." The nurse was shaking her head, her own professional confusion more than obvious. "No, no, not at all!" She insisted again. "His sugar levels are being tested every few hours ... we take a small bit of blood that way. Just a quick prick ... he was asleep the last time. It didn't take any time to do at all. None."

"Danny?" Steve sat on the side of the bed, his own body shaking as he once more grabbed his partner's face to force him to look up. Danny was struggling to make sense of things, nonetheless the physical stress was very real and his partner couldn't afford to get so worked up. He would ask the hospital to do additional blood tests to reconfirm the lack of venom in Danny's bloodstream, but he needed to know for sure in order to accept the HPD details sworn words.

They'd never left his partner's side. _Not once._ Things had been quiet and calm the entire night. And now, the nurse's admission of a simple and very standard blood test? It all made sense, but Steve didn't want to completely derail his traumatized partner - he didn't want to make him feel foolish.

"Was it like the first time?" Keeping his voice low and steady, only the nurse was able to hear what Steve asked. "A dream, buddy? Could you have had just a really bad, bad dream? You're over-tired ... hurting. I know it seemed real just by looking at you ... and I believe you. I do and we're going to triple check the facts and have the doctors check you out to be sure. But Danny ... just _maybe_ ... could it have been a nightmare?"

 _Just like before._ There it was. Steve had practically verbalized his very doubts. _Had this been like the first time?_ As a tear slipped from his left eye to roll into the bridge made by Steve's forefinger, Danny frowned and shook his head gently.  Did he mentally replace Riku Bhandari with Panit Lau in this go round?

Could he have so easily resurrected the existence of the coral snakes based on Doctor Max Bergman's post mortem findings from so long ago? Is that all this was? A dream; a now ages-old proud recitation of the not-so-fascinating existence of the beautiful but deadly Micrurus fulvius?

And if so, why the hell would Danny even choose to remember those particular details down to the ridiculously benign Latin name?

He knew the answers though. Even as he lay there in a hospital bed, vainly trying to catch his breath and quell his rising anxiety. Because the coral snake and production of an antivenin had been the key to Franklin Ray's original experiments. They'd all learned about the lack of pharmaceutical support for the antivenin. A fact which Max had described as _"lack of suitable demand for the cost"_ of manufacture. Doctor Ray's life ambition was going to correct that alarming gap.

But why had Danny chosen to remember all of that now? The answer in itself was incredible simple: he was equally obsessive-compulsive at the worst of times. So now, he cursed himself under his breath for having the gall to remember so many of those old details, just before dissolving into a helpless coughing jag which left him weakly gasping for air and the nurse bustling about to get him to a calmer state.

 _A dream._ Of course, a very vivid nightmare understandably brought on by an ongoing fear and way too much disjointed information which rolled around obsessively inside his head. Steve was right on all counts. Danny was exhausted and definitely hurting; the effects of pain medication and even his ability to always be on the job would all combine themselves into a tidy bundle to work against him when he'd least expect it.

"Yeah," Danny eventually murmured. "Nothing... but a bad dream. That's it... that's all." Shattered by the experience though, he heaved in a short, shallow breath of air and promptly wheezed, another stray tear rolling down his check to bury itself in the ridges of Steve's fingers. He squeezed his eyes closed, the painful wheeze in his lungs more audible as he fought to calm himself down even when the doubts still lingered so treacherously.

 _Just suppose though_? _Suppose_ they were all wrong and Panit Lau had made it into the hospital?

"No. No. He wasn't here," Steve whispered adamantly as he practically read Danny's mind. He knew what they'd find and he desperately needed to get Danny's self-control restored as their eyes met. "You weren't bitten ... there was no snake. All right?"

"Just a simple blood test ... you slept right through it," the nurse quickly added when Danny's eyes tiredly closed for another moment and he tried to rally. He seemed to deflate in front of her eyes though, and she could literally see the pulse beating so wildly in his neck. The nightmare hadn't been real, but it certainly had a foundation in a terrible truth and he'd believed it ... he'd _believed_ all of it. Plus, his current stress level was no laughing matter. She kept her voice just as respectfully quiet, completely understanding how very real the nightmare had been to her patient.

"Danny, please try to control your breathing. We're going to shoo everyone out of here to give you some space. I'm going to stay though and your doctor is on the way."

"Me too. I'm staying while we make sure of things," Steve added gently. "Now ... with me ... slow your breathing down, Danno." Willing his own breathing to find a more normal cadence, Steve gave Danny a sketchy smile. His lips quivered though because he understood and was completely on the same page as his best friend. Nightmare or not, the terror was there and much too close to the surface for the two of them combined.

With his hands still cradling Danny's neck on each side, Steve refused to move even when Danny mumbled much too soon that he was fine. Instead, he forced Danny to look into his face, ignored the brief flare of embarrassment, and deepened his supportive calm.

_**~ to be continued ~** _


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> Notes: Happy LONG LONG birthday celebration, Swifters! I hope you liked your "one shot". An Epilogue may be on the near horizon; stay tuned. Ongoing thanks to KQ for truly awesome help! KQ always manages to re-housetrain the bad muse just when I think all is a lost cause!

 

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Danny knew he should open his eyes, but every time he tried, he felt it and he simply couldn't bring himself to try harder. Whenever he came a bit closer to re-surfacing, the brighter light of wherever he lay teasing him from just behind his lashes, he felt it and panicked. He was better and smarter than this childish reaction, nonetheless he couldn't stop himself from wanting to retreat; from running away and hiding. But his mental meanderings stopped short as a voice spoke over his head. That voice drew him out of his self-prescribed funk and forced him to at least table some of his obsessive thoughts.

"It's gone you know. You _do_ know that ... right?"

Eyes closed, Danny scowled darkly at the timely intervention. Discussions about his discharge were beginning to come up and he should have been happier. However, he'd been moody and depressed, only forcing himself to sit in a chair or walk a few steps when prompted by the nursing staff. He didn't care about doing a single thing and said that he didn't really know why. Yet, that was a total lie because he did know. Regardless of the reason, his attitude was terrible and trying not only on Steve, but on the rest of his team.

"Been gone for days, Danno. Days and days, you stubborn son of a bitch. Open your eyes and keep 'em open this time. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Bite ... me, Steven," Danny whispered on a soft exhale, ignoring the exasperated snort from his friend. "It's not been all _that_ long and there's nothing wrong with me." His throat hurt and the words came out as a rough jumbled mess. In fact, he didn't realize he'd actually spoken until he heard the surprised chuckle. Surprised and incredibly ... relieved no matter his negativity because he hadn't been his typical verbose self either. His head might have been thick and musty from disuse, but Danny heard the emotion in the short laugh and then the subtleness of a long exhale.

His poor bluff was about to be called and Danny didn't even bother to hide a distasteful grimace.

"Yeah, well. It's been more than long enough and you're going home ... probably even tomorrow afternoon. So, let me guess what's wrong with you. You think these dreams are premonitions again, like the last time, don't you?"

There was a shifting of light and dark above him, the mattress moved as Steve sat down, and then his hand was taken up and held between another pair. Ever since Steve had been drugged, he'd become a bit more free with his touchy-feely self; something which Danny didn't quite know what to do about.

"Let go, Steven," Danny said as he half-heartedly tried to pull his hand out from between his friend's only to lose the brief war. He grunted in disgust at his failure, Steve merely giving him a sturdy tug instead.

"Focus ... you're in a real bad place, Danno. I want you to tell me if it's like the first time ... with Ray. The dreams? They're happening more and more, aren't they and you're thinking that they're premonitions of what might come?"

Danny scowled even more without offering an answer, resenting his partner's astute reasonings because Steve was right. Call it superstition or whatever you'd like, he was dwelling on all of that. His problem was that he wouldn't know what to do if that were the case and Panit Lau suddenly reappeared; because he was worn out. Used up and spit out ... there was no way on earth that he could handle the likes of Franklin Ray's terror again. He couldn't handle anyone even remotely like the sociopathic doctor. So Danny didn't actually respond. He just allowed his hand to be held, uncertain as to what to do or even wondering what might be real because the last dream. No _nightmare_. He could tell the difference now. No matter which or what you wanted to call it, the damned thing had been far too real.

"Danny?" He'd zoned out as he lost himself inside his head again, Steve ever-persistent and worried.

"Bite me," Danny repeated stubbornly. More subdued than ever before, his voice dropped at least two octaves.

"I think we've both been bitten enough," came the sarcastic retort. The smile in Steve's tone was unmistakable, but Danny wasn't willing to take the light joke further down that particular path. The latest nightmare had been too vivid and the same in tenor but incredibly ... different in an important part of its subject matter.

This time, Steve had died.

 _This time_ with the grinning visage of Angelo Gibbons shadowing a dour-faced Lau, _Steve had died_ and Danny's expression must have changed in some way because Steve altered course even before Danny could voice an objection.

"Get it out of your head, Danny. You can't assume that these are premonitions," Steve chided him. "In fact, they can't be since you never even knew Franklin Ray had returned in the first place! What about that, huh? Plus, Lau is gone ... off the island according to our latest intel. And Gibbons? Hell, he's been an ongoing problem ... completely involved in this escalate by Ray. But really, Gibbons is our issue right now and as far as he's concerned, this situation only served to undermine him. He's got no toe-hold and he's lost valuable men within his organization! So, it's just a matter of time, Danno. But none of these things are premonitions ... Ray is dead and he took his methods with him anyway."

Rant over, Steve felt satisfied as he distractedly ran his fingers over the marks on Danny's thumb while he finished speaking; the ones made by the phlebotomist as part of his general care. Steve frowned thoughtfully though, wondering - and sincerely hoping - that what he said was the truth. Though not of his partner's ilk, if he needed to be honest with himself, he felt something lurking close by. Some kind of danger that indicated their struggle wasn't quite over. But as he'd just pointed out, that was nothing new. _That_ was related to Angelo Gibbons - a natural trilling of his sixth sense which demanded he be on his guard.

"I swear to God, Steven ... if you even _try_ to kiss me ... if you even _think_ it, I'll have to kill you. Consider that a promise ... not a warning," Danny suddenly growled out, eyes not quite closed as he peeked up through his lashes. He was stunned by Steve's honest revelations. Things he'd never considered and he chose to dive to a lighter place, even if just for a moment as he mulled the reasonability of these points over in his head.

"Oh come on! Cut me some slack!" Steve said with a smile. That light-hearted kidding was at least still a fresh game between them even if Danny was using it to change the subject. Still though, Steve was worried by his friend's ongoing demeanor and incredible ability to change the subject to something else entirely. Like he'd just done - and then, why'd he do it?

"Hey! Wait. But seriously, Danno, what can I do?"

"Nothing," Danny replied. " _If_ you're right then this is on me ... just me. They're nothing more than stupid dreams ... I bet you're one thousand percent right and none of these things are premonitions."

"I'm right?" Steve said in abject glee. "Can I get that in writing and with your John Hancock on it? Geez, Danny ... this is a first."

"Oh, shut up," Danny groused again. "I said if! But I guess you _might_ be right ... sometimes." He swallowed hard again though, still not quite ready to open his eyes all the way. He was comfortable dozing and he liked the half light of reality. He liked the validity of Steve's wise comments. However, physically, staying so low key was easier because it seemed to keep the level of pain from encroaching more. Still though, he was feeling the heaviness in his chest again and the deep ache in his bicep. His lower back hurt, and in truth, really everything hurt in some way or another.

His doctor would yell at him. Incredibly the physician would in fact _yell_ for his patient's laziness and poor attitude. He'd have no sympathy over some of Danny's aches because he was bringing them all on by himself.

"It _is_ gone ... and it _is_ over," Steve insisted just as seriously. More so now that Danny had admitted his ideas more than plausible. "Lau is off the island and Gibbons ... he'd be stupid to try anything now. So, get your ass out of the bed and let's go for a walk. Your doctor is about to blow a gasket!"

"Fine," Danny eventually muttered in total disgust. "Give me five minutes ... maybe ten and then ... yeah, Steve. A walk would be good."

Steve nodded as he got up from the bed to walk a bored circle in the room. Danny sighed and fidgeted uncomfortably, but he thumbed the bed's remote to raise its head and begin kicking the blankets off his legs.

' _Danny_.' Steve mouthed his friend's name as he looked out the window because he couldn't escape one particular nightmarish vision of his own. Of all the things he'd seen in Ray's old house, the red of fresh blood literally dripping from the fingertips of Danny's useless left arm stayed foremost in his mind.

Turning from the window as Danny eased himself to sit on the side of the bed, Steve's eyes automatically went to that arm and the heavy bandage peeking out from the sleeve of the hospital gown. The python had sunk its fangs in to tenaciously hang on. He could almost see that happening in his mind's eye and he shuddered, imagining how Danny had gotten the damned thing off. Taking a moment to gather himself for the umpteenth time, Steve closed his eyes and heaved in a breath. He let it out slowly and then did it again, but even his orchestrated attempts at cleansing himself from a mocked up image failed time after time. What had happened in such a short period was too much to digest for any one of them.

He winced when Danny groaned under his breath, his friend now standing lock-kneed next to the bed and debating using the available wheelchair. Steve wanted to help Danny, but Danny would refuse. As obnoxious as he was about remaining in bed, he was worse to manage once he'd decided to get up. Almost helplessly, Steve stood at a distance, yet close enough to intervene if needed as Danny shuffled forward a few feet as if to test the waters.

"How're you doing?" Steve asked as he stared into his partner's face. He thought he knew the answer and asked anyway. As pale as the sheets he once lay on, Danny surprised him though.

"Hurts," Danny quietly admitted. "My arm ... it really hurts today. But you're right ... and I need to get out of here. And you, you need to tell me why Franklin Ray did what he did in the first place."

"Well, isn't this a gold star day for me! I'm two for two!" Steve at first grinned until the latter half of what was really a demand sank into his head. Then, he frowned in complete confusion.

"What? Ray? _Uh_ , you're going to have to explain this a bit more, Danno. You've lost me here."

"Ray." Danny repeated himself as Steve walked over to him to help him get seated in the wheelchair after he'd made his choice to sit. "Franklin Ray. Tell me why he did what he did, Steve. Why did he set me up ... Gibbons wouldn't have gotten involved without Ray seeking him out. So tell me ... Ray wanted to kill you for taking his godforsaken children from him in the first place. But why the hell did he set me up ... the ear bud ... the taunting ... the God-damned non-venomous snake!"

Danny's voice had begun to rise the more agitated he'd become now. Understanding now what his partner wanted, Steve dropped his head to his chest, shoulders hunched as if in pain. His entire posture communicated his unhappiness about the request. He fumbled with the bandages on his side, the gunshot wound an annoying hot, itchy crease which had gone deep enough to skim bone.

"Danno," he sighed helplessly, resigned to the soft request. He rubbed at his face again, blinking to clear his vision, not surprised to find Danny staring back. Danny's eyes were glassy, glistening with emotion but begging to know why Franklin Ray had come back and done what he'd done. Steve knew that Danny had heard things now. At the time, he'd not understood but then he'd found the comm link in Danny's ear after his collapse. He'd learned that truth the hard way. Despite that though, Danny had missed a lot through the chaos and fear.

"Why the non-venomous snake? It's not the man's M.O." Danny stated calmly. "Tell me what you know."

"It was another of Franklin Ray's sick experiments," Steve began quietly, at a quick loss when he saw Danny's fingers twitch within the fabric of his hospital gown which he'd already wadded so tightly together. He didn't think telling his partner would serve a single purpose and yet, he'd asked and therefore, deserved to know regardless of Steve's opinion.

Still, Steve paused long enough for Danny to frown in annoyance; a look which was enough to get him grudgingly started.

"An experiment in controlling fear ... and ... loyalty. To see if courage ... if friendship ... could trump fear." He clenched his jaw at that truth, intentionally omitting the portion where Ray wanted to see if he could quite literally scare someone to death.

"Well ...wow!" Steve startled when Danny burst out with a sharp laugh. "I guess he did prove that," Danny agreed, his eyes dark with emotion as he met Steve's face. "I guess ... he was right."

"Yeah." Steve grimaced as Danny's voice cracked and faded away, but he nodded as he started to talk again. Ray had proven everything he'd set out to test. Fear, certainly. His partner had hyperventilated so badly, he'd passed out. But then, courage ... and something more ... had been a fair given for both of them.

Loyalty. Friendship. The whole damned ball of wax.

Steve had been dragged away, his own fear for Danny clearly showing on his face as he caught a glimpse of Danny's struggle to breathe. He'd tried to fight, but was dragged up the stairs to the main room where he'd been presented to Doctor Franklin Ray like a prized trophy.

Panit Lau had been there too, standing behind the seated serial killer, another snake in hand. A snake which had proven to be highly venomous.

_"I win," Ray had purred, his fingers tented comfortably on his old mahogany desk. He'd nodded towards the laptop turned just so, the video feed from the lower level trained on Danny's unmoving form. For a long moment Steve had thought his friend had already died. He'd physically wavered while held in place by three pairs of hands, his desire to kill Ray knowing no bounds._

_"I win. You die ... and then he dies, too."_

_Steve remembered glancing up from the screen to meet the man's eyes. He'd been simultaneously relived that Danny must still be alive; but confused by the weird set of circumstances._

_"What do you want, Ray," Steve had asked through clenched teeth. "Just ... what the hell is going on. Why Danny ...?"_

_"Why indeed when everything is your fault," Ray had teased while closing the lid to the laptop much to Steve's surge of fear. He'd grinned, a raised eyebrow indicating another win as Steve's emotions flickered quickly over his face before he'd tried to hide them. He'd leaned forward then, eagerly in fact, his fingers now splayed wide on his desk._

_"Because of you ... I took him, Commander, because of you. You're interference took Riku away from me. You gave the order to kill my first precious ones ... my first children! It was you!" Ray had gotten to his feet at that point, his chair almost toppling over in his haste. Spittle had flown from his lip, his face reddened in rage and Steve remembered how Ray's own men had become nervous and greatly on edge._

_"He was willing to take the abuse I doled out to save you, Commander. To save you from a certain death. So now ... you tell me ... what will you do for him, Commander? Will you give your life for his or will you watch him die first - as I literally scare him to death?"_

At the time, Steve had only just learned about the comm link shoved inside his partner's ear. But he hadn't known the real context behind Ray's secretly whispered threats; he could only guess their import. Everything had stopped for a time as he'd been pushed to his knees and then down to his chest. Lying prone and held in place, his cheek pressed heavily into the hardwood of the desk, he'd been forced to listen to what he'd originally thought to be Ray's self-indulgent pandering of how he was going to kill him ... _after he scared Danny to death._

"It's not over though. And I have days to rest, even when I get out of here," Danny muttered under his breath, bringing Steve back to the present. "We're never going to get Gibbons, are we? And the handler? What about him, _huh_? Do you really believe that Panit Lau got off the island? Because I sure as hell don't ... Gibbons would never allow it. So, the question is will he kill him or use him?"

Danny stared hard at his friend, trying to read what he saw. Steve had an overly quiet nature about him. Calm. Methodical in his speech. Patterns which Danny had learned to read as harbingers of something bad and Danny paused stuck in a maze of frightening thoughts, unsure of what to say next. Something was wrong. He could sense it and see the truth of it on his friend's face.

"Steven," Danny was demanding now and staring directly into Steve's face. "What the hell's going on? What are you thinking?"

There was a long period of silence. Long enough for Steve to fidget uncomfortably. He walked away to stand by the window before rounding back to the bed where he grappled with the frame. While he might not agree to premonitions, he did have a bad feeling.

"I hate to say it," Steve replied slowly as a shiver ran down his spine. "But no, I'm not sure about anything right now; I don't think Gibbons is going to let any of this go."

_**~ End ... pending Epilogue ~** _


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

 

**Epilogue**

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Nothing happened for days on end. Other than resting, healing and battling nightmares which got briefly worse before they miraculously just went away, nothing at all happened. Even Steve's initial surge of unease evaporated as the days fell back into a somewhat normal pattern. Three weeks after being released from the hospital, Danny returned to work and Angelo Gibbons' trail had turned into a very long, thin track. One which now became colder every day.

Despite that, each still had their not-so-covert HPD backup. And while at first both Steve and Danny appreciated the support, that had slowly become painful, too. Cleared to resume normal activity much sooner than Danny, Steve was the first to find his guardians cumbersome to appease as soon as he put a toe in the water behind his own home. They railed and voiced their concerns for his safety as soon as his head disappeared under a wave. The concern continued and worsened upon his return - likely because, other than going to the extreme of absconding a small boat to follow the Five-0 commander, they were stranded on land and all they could do was uselessly pace a small portion of sand.

The situation for Danny upon his release from the hospital became complicated at best. His HPD duo immediately raised the concern of his ex-wife who questioned their existence and then voiced her shock at his audacity to even want to continue his visitation rights once she'd learned more. It was an argument which Danny couldn't readily disagree with. So, his already limited time with his children became much less and then a tug of war of loud arguments by phone and almost absurd placations in person. The tension bled over into Danny's interactions with his team and then to both Grace and Charlie, making any return to his normalcy virtually impossible.

Irritable after a particularly stressful phone call with his ex-wife, Danny stood next to Steve, itching for something and yet learning he was going to have yet another aggravating day as he listened to Chin Ho recite a status which he'd heard far too much of.

"Nothing?" Danny questioned, the one word tinged with just a small amount of hope that was quickly dashed by Chin's expression alone. "There has to be ... news ... someone, somewhere has to have intel."

"I wish, but there's nothing. We've had nothing for days - really weeks and I don't know what to make of it," Chin continued, his hand lightly drumming the top of the smart table in their main war room. "He's staying low; he's lost more than a few of his own best men. Personal revenge ... its a dangerous game. He's out there planning ... he's not gone. Just waiting."

"No, he's not done," Steve agreed, a suffering sigh audible to all. Chin was correct in his assessment and he was forced to verbalize that agreement. "He's waiting for us to relax ... to forget to watch our backs." Angelo Gibbons was tenacious and angry by nature. He'd been stung now and taken a bruising personal injury. They'd poked a bear with an extremely sharp stick and the man was now easily twice as dangerous. However despite the presumed rage, he was also being three times as careful. Unfortunately for them, the felon was no fool.

"What about the other one," Danny asked. His frustration was obvious. Early on and while still hospitalized, he had started to refer to Panit Lau as _'the other one'_. He interrupted Steve now and then ignored his partner's displeased expression. His mood continued to be as foul as the weather outside, the gray skies only exacerbating his temper around another few lost days with his kids. More than impatient with the ongoing state of affairs, he craved action and wanted nothing more than to put an end to not only Angelo Gibbons, but Panit Lau.

"Sorry, Danny," Chin replied in all sincerity. "We just don't know." He and his cousin were just as frustrated as their two friends. Within hours of locating Danny and Steve at Franklin Ray's old mansion, Kono had spent nearly every spare minute of her time searching under every rock and grain of sand on the island. Neither she nor the extra law enforcement employed to bring in Panit Lau or Angelo Gibbons, or any one of the felon's nefarious associates had found success.

Gibbons seemed to be gone and Panit had vanished into thin air, as had anyone even remotely tied to either.

"Yeah," Danny whispered under his breath as he glanced towards Steve's office where rain pelted the exterior of the large bay of windows. The Hawaiian rainy season was in full swing and he rapped his knuckles on the edge of the table while shaking his head in disgust. Nothing seemed to be in his favor, not even the weather as a deep rumble of thunder preceded a sharp flash of lightning.

"Of course ... why not," he added sarcastically as another rumble threatened overhead. "That other one is probably long gone now, and as far as Gibbons ... you're right. He's just biding his time." The entire situation had left a very bad taste in his mouth and Danny distractedly wrapped an arm around the residual tightness across his ribs. While the nightmares had at least mercifully gone, the lousy weather did nothing for his healing woes. So if it wasn't one thing, it was something else and Danny found himself in a constant struggle over managing his own temper.

"Just ... I hate to bring this up ... but, we're going to have let this all go," Chin said hesitantly. "We've never really had anything solid. We'll keep our eyes opened, but we have newer cases and we have to move on."

"Agreed. We can't keep on like this," Steve murmured, a circumspect eye turned towards his partner as Danny scowled and then nodded, too. "It's not getting us anywhere. So, I'll release the HPD escorts ... it's a waste of everyone's time and I think the risk, for right now, is minimal."

There was a subtle change in Danny's posture when he mentioned releasing HPD and Steve lifted a quizzical eyebrow. Relief? Unease? Steve wasn't at all sure what he read as his partner went back to studying the rain-spattered windows. Frankly, he wasn't sure though the decision essentially felt right because nothing had happened and none of them had made any progress. But in the very least, the ongoing stress around their existence would lessen and they'd each find a more even keel in truly resuming their day-to-day activities.

He could resume his daily rituals without apology and Danny, the same when it came to managing his ex-wife and guaranteeing the safety of their children. _'Hell,'_ Steve thought privately, his eyes narrowing in thought as he stared at his partner's profile. _'I can ride back up or run interference; or even help Danny with the kids ... if it'll lighten his load.'_

The truth of the matter was that Lau was likely long gone, but he was the least of their worries. Whether it be days, weeks or months, Gibbons would wait and then he'd strike - or at least try. Steve could practically read Danny's mind about it as they worriedly gnawed at the same proverbial bone.

"We'll get him," Steve said spontaneously as much for himself as for Danny, pleased when Chin seconded the words with even more vigor.

"Oh, we _will_ get him," Chin vowed as he looked from one man to the other. "Gibbons? I have no doubts that we _will_ get him ... none at all. In fact, Kono is completely unwilling to let this go. So, even though we're technically going to have to table this as an active case, we'll get him - and maybe even Lau. But until we do, we have newer cases and we have to focus."

"Like what?" Danny asked as he turned back towards the table. "What do we have?" Even with Chin's occasional bland method of delivery, it was easy to read between the lines and he drew his attention away from the storm outside, tempted to smile when he saw the interest in the Asian's eyes. Something was up and he found himself unexpectedly keen for a healthier distraction.

"Storm tides have ripped up the ocean and a couple called 911 about ... finding what looks like human remains," Chin shared, a smile finally breaking through to lighten the mood in the room no matter the grisly reality. "Kono was already near Kahanamoku Beach, so she'll meet us there. It already smells like a homicide at first blush ... so gear up, it's wet out there."

"On the beach ... _now_? In the storm?" Danny said in disbelief, blinking in surprise and ruing his interest while gesturing over his shoulder towards the ever-darkening skies they could each see through the windows. "We couldn't get a call for something inside a building ... inside where it's ... less _wet_? Who the hell and in their right mind would be out in this anyway - to actually find ... what? A body? And then, actually make a call?"

"Storm watchers live for this weather, Danny," Chin said with a sly chuckle. "Crazy tourists who want to experience heavy weather and big waves first hand. It's fun ... exhilarating to be that close. Even with the threat of potential toxins coming in from Ala Wai Canal runoff, storm watchers and thrill seekers - even _lolo_ surfers - are out there tempting fate regardless of the dangers of just walking the beach."

"Tempting fate?" Danny muttered disgustedly. "Stupidity if you ask me!"

"Plus, you never know what you're going to find," Steve added as he cut to the chase. "Anything and everything can wash up on shore; you never know what kind of treasure might show up. So, what do we have, Chin? Who called it in ... what do we know so far?"

"German tourists called it in about an hour ago," Chin explained as they walked out of the offices with their gear in hand. "Definitely not treasure this time, though. From what I'm hearing, it's a badly decomposed torso and the couple virtually walked over the top of it without realizing the find at first. Max Bergman is on his way ... Kono and HPD are cordoning off the area. Despite the weather ..."

"Uh ... torso?" Danny interrupted, face lined in consternation as he ambled in their wake. "Didn't they find a torso in the opening to Jaws?"

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

 

Less than hour later found Danny scowling as the wind whipped rain and stinging pellets of sand directly into his face. He wasn't annoyed about the weather though. He was balanced on his toes, crouched down and also ignoring the deep ache in his chest where his ribs seemed to constantly want to remind him about too much exercise, too soon. Deep in thought, he heaved in a careful breath of air and then blew it slowly out through his mouth, lips pursed. The tide was coming in with a vengeance and the remains were now practically laying in a tidal pool. No one dared touch them yet until the medical examiner arrived and made the decision; and Max was late, delayed by flooded roads and too many detours to count.

Danny was silent as he stared at the ruined torso, bloated and barely recognizable as having once been human. The smell was atrocious as it always was, too, but Danny never moved or indicated that he was bothered by it. In fact, he scarcely moved at all. He simply stared at what at one time had been the back of a ... _man's_... head.

"Not Jaws," Danny remarked to Steve without looking away from the putrid decay. "Single gunshot wound at close range to the back of the head. Execution style." The gaping cavity in the back of the skull had been enlarged by the elements and decay, but even from where he crouched low, he knew the looks of a fatal gunshot wound when he saw one. He doubted that the medical examiner would find another.

Without disturbing the crime scene, there didn't seem to be anything left of the clothing and as initially reported, most of the lower half of the remains were either missing or covered with maritime debris or clumps of brackish seaweed. But he could just make out a wrist and what looked like a bit of hemp rope which still remained wrapped around the ruined skin. All of this made Danny's assumption an easy one. The man's hands had been bound together, likely behind his back. What was left of his fingers might have once had the potential of being long, slender and ... dark-skinned.

He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, Panit Lau's face looming within his mind's eye. "It's him," Danny murmured quietly.

"Danny, you don't know if it's him," Steve whispered back from the opposite side of the tidal pool. The water was shallow, but deepening and a small team was vainly attempting to setup a break-front of sorts to keep the tide back so that the medical examiner had some luxury of time to work. Ignoring their goings on with tarps and sandbags, Steve was gauging every worrisome look which lined his partner's face. He knew precisely who Danny thought it was. Probably because he had the very same inklings. But it was too soon to know and wrong of them to make such assumptions.

"Danny," Steve tried again when his partner opened his eyes, squinting through the rain in order to look at him, his face grim.

"It's _him_... the other one," Danny softly argued in kind. "Don't you _dare_ tell me that you don't think it is either. You know who this is, Steve ... you know that Max is going to prove it, too." He knew who it was. Or, Danny thought he knew who it would be once the medical examiner managed to conduct a full examination. He sensed that Steve felt it too and would have smiled if not for the unexpected whipping of wet sand that briefly scoured his face. In a huff, Danny pawed at his eyes to wipe the grains away as he stumbled awkwardly to his feet.

"You okay?" Steve asked when Danny hissed an ugly curse under his breath.

"Yeah, yeah ... I'm fine," Danny replied impatiently as he hugged an arm around the ache in his chest and closed his eyes once more, breathing in the sweeter scent of ocean and fresh rain.

"Where the hell is Max?"

"About ten minutes out," Steve noted as he remained hunkered down a few feet away from the body, balanced lightly on his toes, his sleeve pulled over his nose and mouth to block the stench. He looked up, slightly mollified as Danny nodded, some of his physical discomfort for bending down so long leaving his face as he carefully straightened up and relaxed the hold he'd had on his ribs.

"So, he decided to kill him," Danny stated quietly. He glanced back down towards Steve, his voice low as he shared his thoughts. "I guess Gibbons opted for payback even if _he_ \- this other one - might have been a victim of circumstance."

Steve didn't bother to negate his partner's vacillating opinions. In one breath blaming Panit Lau for his part and then communicating a sense of appreciation for some of the man's actions, Danny was straddling a fence. But as he examined the torso again, Steve felt deep down that these remains they'd found were indeed those of Panit Lau; without saying a word, he agreed that Angelo Gibbons had managed to locate the Asian handler before he'd made his way off the Hawaiian islands. Then he'd murdered the handler for his betrayal. Only the storm surge had fouled the felon's plans to dispose of the body for eternity.

"He sure as hell doesn't like to lose and this deal with Ray left him exposed," Steve said as he smoothly stood and then walked over to stand by Danny's side. "With Lau connected to Franklin Ray, it was enough for Gibbons to naturally want some kind of retribution and Panit Lau won the short straw. _Again_. So yeah, I agree with you Danny. I think this is Lau and I'm not going to be surprised when we hear Max's confirmation."

"Thank you," Danny murmured. He shoved his hands deeply into the pockets of his rain slicker and half turned on his heel to look out across the rough waters. Chin was right; the violence of the waves was exhilarating to watch. However, he could only lose himself watching nature's wrath for so long because Lau's death bothered him for reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on. The Asian wasn't a good man per se; but he'd done a couple of _good_ things. Empathetic gestures which had literally saved Steve's life first and then both of their lives later in the hospital through an anonymous phone call.

Danny didn't understand any of it, but he'd have to be content without ever being able to ask the now deceased man for his reasons. Torn by his own sense of justice, he simply felt badly for the handler's gruesome death.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Steve reasoned as he watched the crew finish protecting the crime scene as best as possible. "Finding him like this. Here ... Gibbons didn't expect him to wash up and be found ... not like this."

"No, he did not," Danny agreed as he continued to stare out at the ominous horizon. "How are we going to keep this ... quiet? He frowned thoughtfully as he looked at the volume of sandbags, the glossy wave and snap of black tarp which was buffeted by the high winds, and then to the small battery of curious onlookers. It would be hard, but they'd need to keep this find as quiet as humanly possible. Based on the location and the recent storm surge, Panit Lau had likely been killed at sea and dumped over board for good measure.

If they could at least keep Max Bergman's findings out of the media. Better yet, keep the actual discovery of human remains a complete secret. If one thing was for certain, Gibbons had never wanted the body discovered; he'd assumed that the sea would take care of hiding this latest transgression. But it hadn't and just maybe they'd get some sort of break when it came to tracking Angelo Gibbons down.

"We need to keep this quiet; keep the report confidential. But, ten to one there's a boat out there," Danny voiced his concerns aloud. "Could even be close ... hard to tell. Yet it could be close enough ... which means Gibbons is still within striking distance and he could hit sooner than we think."

"Yup," Steve agreed with all of those points before he casually bumped into Danny's shoulder with his own, a coy smile lifting one side of his mouth. "But then, so could we."

Max would prove the body to be that of Panit Lau. He'd confirm cause of death and likely identify a good many more clues about where Lau had been ... and possibly who he'd been with. Each clue would add to the proverbial smoking gun and lead a path to Angelo Gibbons's doorstep. And in Steve's opinion, that would be what would happen.

They would find Gibbons first, not vice versa. Like Chin had said, things would take just a matter of time and this find could be their biggest turn of luck yet.

"There's a boat...," Steve agreed. "And this is going to be our best opportunity, Danno. He'll never see us coming and then, he'll never know what hit him."

"I hope you're right because he still wants you bad," Danny said worriedly. He went back to scowling, his unhappiness showing over the grim smile on Steve's face and offhand shrug, each which virtually shouted his partner's challenge so very loudly. He could guess what Steve might already be planning inside his head and Danny threw one hand up in the air dramatically.

"You're an animal, Steven!"

"He better hope that's all I am," Steve replied nastily as he glanced back towards Panit Lau's ruined remains.

_**~ End.~** _

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.


End file.
